Neutral Third Party
by The Kouga Lucius Connection
Summary: Speed and Lash befriend an incoming freshman girl from their street in their junior year to appease their mothers. After becoming true friends with her, will the romantic, social, educational and familial trials break apart the steadfast trio?
1. Prologue: Freshman Year

**Hey; it's like my dream to hang out with Speed and Lash so I decided to live vicariously through a story. I know it's slow to start, but the next chapter is when the cool warm fuzzzy things we all like to read start coming out; AWWWWW, friendship makes me happy. This is just the start of the fabulous trio and next chapter we'll jump a year ahead to the good stuff. Okay, enough prologue to my prologue, read on!**

9191919

School is a strange thing; even if you only watch someone from afar and never speak, you feel like you know them. There's always a vague sort of familiarity attached to other students and you relish in it. Even if it's something stupid like seeing them in the mall, it's almost like having a friend in a strange place. They'll always be that person from your school, that one person you might know in a crowd of hundreds.

That's sort of the way it was with me and Lash Gregorios. He and Speed McGonagall lived down the street when I was small, beginning the very first day I can remember. Before we got our powers, we were familiar faces who occasionally spoke at block parties or played with Tonka trucks at the park down the way. I knew them back when they weren't Lash or Speed, but James and Michael; I greeted their mothers cordially when I ran across them in the grocery store and other mundane things like that. Maybe we were connected way back when, even before I was aware of it. Even before we got to Sky High.

Speed later told me in a moment of joking vindictiveness that he remembered me from the first day of preschool; I wore a green bow twenty times too big for my head and was already missing a tooth. He'd been jealous because he was a late bloomer and hadn't lost a tooth yet; that was just the start of his competitive streak. Lash only grinned when Speed told the story, adding in, "Hey, I liked the bow."

So the first day of my freshman year when I stumbled out of the bus, practically kissing the firm ground beneath my feet, I didn't find it strange when I looked across the yard and felt familiarity sweeping through my bones; Lash and Speed were leaning against a tree looking like God's gift to man, which they thought they were back then. I knew them from our street, Mockingbird Lane, from the beauty shop Lash's mother owned down the street, from the time Speed's father had lent my father a weed whacker, from the day I'd clumsily offered Lash's sister my cat to stop her six year old tears.

I waved across the school yard, that awkward wave you give people you've known forever but never really talked to. Lash noticed and nudged Speed in the side; both of them gave that awkward wave in return, just raising their hands in acknowledgement. I took in a deep breath and gazed around the school yard, watching the students greeting one another and lounging around the luscious grounds; this was going to be good for me. I could feel it.

Now I feel obligated to mention that I'd always felt sort of awkward in my younger years; I was tall and gangly, practically towering over my friends, and my bushy red hair didn't curl elegantly the way all the other girls' did. My eyes weren't a cool color; they were just sort of muddy green. My teeth were too big, my freckles too numerous, and my feet too big: size eleven. The situation had only improved slightly as I matured into a fourteen year old: my hair was tamable with product and braces had done their work with my smile. Otherwise, I still felt like the string-bean fourth grader I'd always been. Perhaps it didn't help that my mother had laid out my clothes that morning, forever steady even on the first day of high school; I was wearing my lucky green dress, embroidered around the neck line with shamrocks that mother swore would "give me luck."

As I tripped over my too-large feet and nearly ate it, I suddenly didn't feel so lucky anymore.

"Whoa, watch out," said a friendly voice, accompanied by a strong-armed catch.

I looked up to find a kind looking boy with wide eyes and a healthy head of brown hair smiling down at me, helping me into an upright position with a startling easiness. "Will Stronghold," he introduced with a handshake, engulfing my awkward skinny hand in his meaty one.

I grinned widely, the only way I could, and replied eagerly, "Mackenzie MacHaryas, just call me Mack. Nice to meet you Will." When the name struck a bell, I asked curiously, "Relation to Steve and Josie Stronghold?"

"Yeah, my parents," Will replied, smiling vaguely. "You know them?"

Suddenly feeling a little intrusive for even mentioning the subject, I blushed and mumbled, "Oh, yeah, I think our parents worked together back in the day. Cougar and Brainwave...yeah, dad and mom to me, hehe," I chuckled nervously, suddenly self conscious.

A look of recognition passed over Will's face as we began walking towards the front of the school. "Sure, sure, I've heard mom and dad talking about Cougar and Brainwave tons of times. For some reason I didn't know they had a daughter."

"I don't think they really let out my name in the superhero community until they knew I had powers," I replied, feeling that darkness I was so accustomed to infiltrate my good mood. Sure, I'd gotten my powers eventually, but somehow my parents' reluctance to acknowledge me prior to this always stung in retrospect. What if I'd never been able to do anything impressive? What if I'd ended up a dud?

Will interrupted my thoughts. "Hey, I understand what it's like to be a late bloomer. So, what's your specialty?"

Knowing he meant power-wise, I reshouldered my bag awkwardly and said, "A little bit of both worlds. Mostly telekinesis, but I can kind of summon animals like dad. Except it's only one animal...and it doesn't like me very much."

Will laughed in an indulgent way, one which I attribute to knowing me a short time and finding my over share strange. "You'll get the hang of it. Good luck on your first day, Mack."

"Yeah, thanks...bye Will," I muttered, waving goodbye lamely and watching him leave, quickly linking arms with a pretty redheaded girl. She kissed his cheek and I found myself momentarily jealous over the sculpt of her hair; it was smooth and curled only slightly, accompanying smooth, pale skin and a well formed body. Seeing a prettier redhead always frosted my cookies.

I progressed into the school, which was large and white and glassy; it felt so enormous and warehouse-like in the morning light. Whereas other students seemed to know where they were going, I couldn't quite get the hang of it. I found several freshman gathered around a bulletin board, apparently trying to find their locker assignments. I was able to make out the number "313" next to the name "Packenzie Macharyas." I sighed; a misspelled name was obviously an omen.

Locker 313 was located between the science labs and the history rooms. It wasn't a bad location, I suppose, but there didn't seem to be a difference between my locker and the lockers halfway around the school. It was all incredibly uniform. As I set down my bag and opened my locker, squinting at the lock-programming instructions on the inside of the door, a voice hailed from my left.

"Hey, Mackenzie, right? You live on Mockingbird."

I looked up to find Speed opening the locker beside mine as Lash looked on, eyes half-hooded lazily. They were bigger than I remembered them; Speed had matured into an enormous kid, both up and down and side to side. Lash seemed to have grown up and no where else. They dressed the way I remembered, Speed in his sneakers, shorts and band shirt, while Lash distracted you from everything else with his striped arms; he'd worn striped shirts since the day he gotten his powers in the fifth grade. As I looked his way, Lash locked eyes with me behind his sweeping black bangs and I flushed; there was something exhilarating about him.

"Yeah, just Mack," I finally answered, mustering a smile. "Speed and Lash, isn't it? I guess I'm not allowed to use real names here..." I sort of trailed off, laughing lightly. I squinted again at the directions inside my locker, trying to seem casual and as though them talking to me wasn't the most exciting thing in the past ten minutes; as a child, I'd always found them cool.

Speed laughed at my comment, a laugh that was slightly sinister but still boyish at age seventeen. "Yeah, it would ruin our rep," he joked in return, though I could tell he was being slightly serious.

"My sister said you got your powers a few weeks ago," Lash said suddenly, though his voice made the comment seem anything but sudden. His voice was deep and smooth, lilting and casual. Casual like I could never be. Though he looked like a brooding sort of kid, he offered me a smile as though giving an honest effort to be nice. I was sort of flattered since word on the street was that Lash and Speed were anything but nice at this school.

"Yeah," I answered, smiling as I fiddled with my lock. "I was being lazy and wished the cereal box would just come to me at the breakfast table and...well, it did. So I have the power that every couch potato in the world only dreams of."

To my surprise, Speed laughed and Lash chuckled; they just didn't seem like the humorous types. "Dude, no way! I wouldn't leave my room. Ever," Speed decided, earning an eye roll from his best friend.

"You don't leave your room now," Lash replied, causing me to laugh slightly.

Speed shot the skinnier boy a look but said nothing in protest; it appeared that his tough-guy attitude only stretched so far where his best friend was concerned. I'd never seen one without the company of the other, not since I was four and they were six. It almost gave me hope for all the best friends in the world.

"So, hero test today?" Lash probed me.

I groaned slightly, recalling my mother's pep talk about the hero test. "Yeah. I think I'm gonna hurl."

But Speed let out a disbelieving snort and exclaimed, "You ain't gonna be anything but hero, right? I mean, your parents are Cougar and Brainwave. They're right up there with Stronghold's rents, you've got nothin' to worry about."

I gave up on programming my locker lock and muttered almost mutinously, "Yeah, that's the problem. If I don't get into the hero classes, my mom's going to get all disappointed and my dad's going to go on one of his rainforest trips until he gets over the embarrassment. I'm they're only child; what if I...suck at this?"

Another blush crept over my cheeks when I realized how evocative this last statement had been; here I was again, over sharing with near strangers. But unlike Will, the two bullies beside me seemed unperturbed by my feelings.

"Aw, fuck it. Who cares what anyone else thinks? Just kick the shit out of the car, you'll be fine," Speed assured me, seeming to honestly think that I would have no trouble with this whole encounter.

Finding his profanity strangely comforting (and a good deal akin to my mother's,) I shook out my shoulders and said almost calmly, "Right, kick the shit out of the car."

Lash shot a sideways glance at Speed and pushed off the lockers, walking closer to me; soon he had taken the locker lock in his nimble fingers and begun to program it without a single eyeshot at the instructions. "Is your address okay for a combination?" he asked, dark eyes dead set on his operation.

I replied vaguely, "Sure," looking back and forth between Speed and Lash. Being the space cadet I am, a strange thought had only just struck me; why were they being so nice?

My mother had told me the stories she'd heard floating around Bernadette Gregorios's beauty shop; from Lash's mother herself, tales of bullying and trouble at school had spilled forth. Speed and Lash were perpetually in fights (though one sided whoopings could hardly be considered fights) and when not fighting, they were mouthing off to teachers and skipping class (though Bernadette insisted that her lovely "James" still made perfect grades.) Bernadette had even confided in my mother, a dear friend, that the two boys had been involved in the second rise of Royal Pain in their sophomore year. From what I could glean from stories, Speed and Lash were practically high school super villains.

"Hey, wait a second," I said suddenly, shaking my head slightly, rather confused. "Why are you being so cool to me? I mean, aren't you bullies up here or something? Villains, right?" I took my bag from Lash's hand, as he'd been about to place it inside my recently programmed locker. "I don't want to be part of some scheme or get my head flushed everyday for the rest of my awkward teen years, so I'll just get lost before you eat my eyeballs or something. Thanks for the locker...yeah." I dragged the bag away behind me, trying to scamper off as best I could before the bullies turned dark and decided to beat me up for my insolence; I couldn't believe how off my guard they'd caught me! They'd even tricked me into waving hello when I first arrived! Sneaky little devils...

"Hey! What the hell?"

I blinked in surprise as Speed appeared in front of me, bringing with him a mighty wind and a rush of stray homework papers; several nearby students winced as their hair rushed up in the breeze; they were almost used to Speed's powers, "almost" being the operative word.

"Um, just what I said," I attempted to say strongly, ending up sounding like a strangled kitten; my voice always got small when I was nervous.

"We were just being friendly!" Speed exclaimed in what appeared to be frustration, throwing up his chubby arms and sighing deeply.

I blinked. "Look, I just want to get through this test and hopefully remain invisible. Getting hiked up a flagpole by you two probably won't help me with that, so I'm just going to peace out."

When Speed looked imploringly at his friend, Lash ran a hand through his thick black hair and sighed, sounding more resigned than anything. Finally responding to the pleading in his best friend's eyes, Lash walked forward to meet us and looked me directly in the eyes, hands easily placed in his pockets. "Obviously you know what happened last year. And, obviously, it wouldn't make us the most popular guys around in a school full of do-gooders. So, Speed and I were thinking that maybe we should try hanging out with a person who knew...'earth' us and not just 'school' us."

Of all the dirty, rotten excuses I'd expected them to drudge up, this was certainly not the foremost. I blinked for the umpteenth time, wondering how my eyes had yet to water, and cleared my throat in the awkward silence; Lash and Speed were still watching me expectantly, looking as honest as the day they were born. Actually, both of them looked quite nervous, Speed especially; it was clear at this point that Lash was the thoughtful one and Speed the active one. Between the two of them, they were actively thinking through their next step in life; apparently, the two loner bullies were beginning to yearn for some alternative companionship.

Unless they were just being tricky.

"That's an interesting thought," I said neutrally, finding myself in a strange position. I didn't want to be cruel in case they were telling the truth, but my defense mechanisms screamed rather pitifully that this might be a trap to publically embarrass me or something like that. I wasn't sure which way to turn. "You've got to understand...I'm not the most popular person either. I mean, kids have called me 'Beanstalk' since middle school. I'm not a popularity girl."

"Who said anything about being popular?" Speed interrupted, looking slightly disgusted by the very word. "We still wanna beat the shit out of people, we just need a neutral third party."

Hearing the words "neutral third party" coming out of Speed's stupid looking expression made me smile falteringly; this was all sort of cute in a funny, sad way. "Right. Well...I still don't understand why you're going out of your way to talk to _me. _I mean, there's tons of other 'neutral third parties' walking around. Don't you think you could pick another neutral third party?"

The two boys exchanged nervous glances and I cocked an eyebrow; apparently I was on to something. There was a fishy element to all of this and I was beginning to smell rotten produce beneath their flimsy excuses. Speed gulped and Lash closed his eyes as though praying for guidance; apparently they'd come to the end of their rope. Speed opened his mouth to say something but Lash's fiery black warning glance stopped him the first time around. Lash was just going to remedy the situation with some smooth talking when Speed blurted out the awful truth.

"Our moms made us."

I squinted slightly. "Sorry?"

"Idiot!" Lash exclaimed, hitting his own forehead and throwing up his arms imploringly to the skies.

"Whatever, she can take it," Speed replied roughly, crossing his barrel arms. Turning back to face me, he explained crassly, "We're still on a tight leash from last year and our mom's told us if we didn't make nice with you, they'd stop letting us hang out. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way." When a threatening edge found its way into his deep tone, I found my negative thoughts welling up in full bloom; no wonder I'd been so wary to concede. It was all a ploy.

"Your moms are using me as a rehabilitation device?" I asked disdainfully, feeling some sort of hurt creep up in the back of my throat. _Stop being so affected, Mack, jeez. This is no time to start being so girly; they're assholes, get over it, live and learn, all of those clichés. If you expect hurt, it'll never surprise you._

While Speed looked confused by my suggestion, Lash sighed slightly and attempted to explain in greater detail. "It's not like that. Your mom said something to my mom about you having trouble making friends in school and our parents," he gestured to Speed and himself, "thought that maybe having another person hanging around might keep us from getting in to trouble this year. Like a...neutral third party."

Realization began to dawn on me as the hurt continued to sink in; having trouble making friends at school. Mom was interfering in my person life again...not that it had done much before now, seeing as though the truth still stood: I was a loser. A geek. An outcast. It wasn't because I was ugly or because I had strange interests; it was because I had no confidence. I'd always looked strange, I'd always _been _strange, and not even other strange kids could handle the baggage which came with being seen with me. Apparently, the only friends I had were to be bought as a ransom device by my mother and her devious gossip friends.

Several feelings entered my system and created a numb sort of haze: hurt, bitterness, confusion, and most of all, submission. Cold, tired submission.

"Fine," I said finally, reshouldering my bag and gazing at the boys half hooded. "It's not like I have friends anyway."

I turned and began to walk away when I noticed footsteps falling in line beside me. I glanced haphazardly to my right and noticed Speed walking blithely along beside me, glaring occasionally at underclassmen as they passed. On my left, Lash was loping right along with his long legs making a perfect line in tune with his body; he was fluid and intimidating, probably fascinating to an artist somewhere.

"What are you two doing?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as civil as possible.

"Coming to watch you in the hero test," Speed replied, glancing at me as though this were quite obvious.

I blushed as I noticed stares and whispers aimed our way; obviously, it was quite unusual to see the great Lash and Speed walking with someone else, especially some weird freshman girl. "Don't you have class?"

"We only have class when we want to have class," Lash responded calmly. I looked over to see if he was joking when I realized just how serious he was; those oil-spill eyes didn't lie.

Drawing in a calming breath, I murmured, "Do what you want."

The three of us walked in silence towards the gym, where the loud speakers had informed us that the dreaded test was to take place. I clutched my bag tighter and tripped once or twice, no doubt affected by the eerie stone soldiers at my side; as we rounded the corner towards the gym, a small boy actually took off running at the mere sight of them. If I'd had trouble making friends before, I could only imagine what might happen now.

The gym was large, slightly dim and dusty with heat; several students were already milling about in their gym uniforms, avoiding each others eyes as they whispered mantras to themselves ("Be one with the power.") I sighed heavily and made as though to trek towards the locker room, only to be stopped by a meaty hand on my shoulder.

"Remember what I said earlier, right? Kick the shit out of the car," Speed informed me quite seriously.

I muttered frostily, "I'll try to keep that in mind," before breaking away from his hand and trudging towards the locker room with heavy feet. It was one thing to have overprotective brothers messing with your groove on the first day of school: having two unwanted wannabe super villains tagging along was a completely different story. As I entered the locker room, I could hear whispers and incredulous gasps already aimed my way: word had spread that a new super villain was in town and she was a gangly redhead with two parasitic psycho friends.

My locker was located beside the boiler room, which was making quite a bit of noise at the current time; the clanging was almost deafening and I grimaced, opening my locker to find scrubby gym clothes folded neatly inside. I was just a winner in the education system.

I appeared to be the final one to arrive when I entered the gym a minute later, extremely conscious of my chicken legs and nonexistent breasts. As I arrived on the scene, an imperious looking gym teacher barked out, "Thank you Ms. Macharyas for arriving last."

I winced as his beady eyes met my fearful ones; apparently the class had taken role and I hadn't been present for it.

"To congratulate you on your tardiness," the teacher continued, "You will be tested first."

Gulping, I closed my eyes fretfully and felt my knees knock pitifully together; to punish me for being the most awkward being in the room, I was now being forced to perform in front of several strangers. It was perhaps my greatest fear next to needles, public performance was, and I was definitely not looking forward to whatever awaited me on the platform. My mother had taken the liberty of informing me that I need only stop a car from falling on my head to be placed in the hero class. The only problem was that I didn't perform well under pressure; what if I got flattened?

"Get up on the platform, Macharyas," the coach demanded, beckoning me as he readied his pen against his clipboard.

The other students turned to watch me as I made my way towards the stage at a slow, clippy pace. As I reached the ladder steps, I found my large foot hooked on a stair and without further ado, I fell in a tangle of limbs to the floor. My classmates roared with laughter as the coach rolled his eyes and I felt my cheeks nearly melting off my face; in the corner of my eye, I could see Speed and Lash shaking their heads in the bleachers.

"Power?" the coach asked me boredly as I stumbled to my feet.

"Telekinesis," I replied quietly, practically stammering. "And...and some animal summoning. Kind of."

"Kind of?" the coach echoed, staring narrow-eyed at me. "Any relation to Lance Macharyas, the Cougar?"

Somehow I'd just known he was going to ask me that. "My dad," I replied, voice barely a whisper.

"And that means Beulah Macharyas is your mother, then," the coach continued, sounding as though he were more eager to meet me by the minute. When I nodded dumbly, my red curls already frizzing in the humid summer morning, the coach roared, "Well then, this should be no trouble for you. Car!"

Before I could barely react, there was a loud beep from above me and the sound of an enormous object falling from the ceiling weighed in on my senses. The animalistic bits of me screamed "_DANGER!" _as I conjured up the least bit of courage I had; my mind's eyes zoomed in on the falling object and with my soundless command of "stop," every sound in the gym came to a complete and total halt. I dared open my madly shut eyes to peer up at the car levitating eerily a few feet above the Coach's head and, relieved and pleased to notice the slight pressure of the car's weight on my telekinesis, I waited patiently for the coach to give me my verdict.

"Well," the coach continued with a slightly indulgent smile, "I'd say that's a Hero."

"Thank you, Coach," I said meekly, smiling slightly as I stepped down from the platform amongst slightly surprised looks of acceptance. Before I could make it all the way down, however, loud cheering and claps from the stands sounded out across the gym.

"NICE! WOOO!" Speed hollered, clapping his meat slab hands together raucously.

"Mockingbird Lane kicks ass!" Lash chimed in, clapping his large friend on his thick shoulder.

"Friends of yours?" the coach asked shortly.

I blushed profusely and replied almost coldly, "Neighbors," before turning on my heels and preparing to return to the group. At my reply, several of the students exchanged glances and one even dared to speak, though I found it somewhere in my small supply of courage to shoot them a terrifying green gaze. They quailed and quieted almost immediately, fading back into the group.

The coach, who's voice I was beginning to notice was extremely loud and occasionally painful to listen to, had called the second name on his list and was torturing the poor boy for his height or something like that. I stood off to the side, watching the proceedings politely until a surprising rush at my side caused me to gasp.

"Don't do that!" I exclaimed in a hushed whisper, clasping a hand over my heart as Speed grinned at me.

"C'mon," he said, grabbing my arm and beginning to drag me away. "You're done here."

"But I'm supposed to watch everyone else, right?" I asked lamely, finding myself dragged forcefully away as the coach snarled angrily at one of the weedy tall boys in the front row; he seemed not to notice my current plight.

"Boomer doesn't care," Speed scoffed, managing to get me all the way to the door of the gym where Lash was waiting patiently. The taller boy pushed open the door and we walked through together, though Speed still had a firm hold on me. All I could do was splutter in confusion as Lash held up my bag, which he had apparently retrieved.

"What the-" I asked confusedly, brow furrowed.

"I got it for ya," Speed replied dismissively when he noticed my confused expression.

"You went in my gym locker?" I cried, aghast. "That's like my personal stuff!"

"School books and a dress," Lash replied, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, really personal."

I flushed brightly and grabbed the bag from his outstretched hand, getting rather mad at this point. "How dare you! I don't even know you two and you just attack me on my first day of school, going on about how your moms want you to be friends with me, the poor little friendless girl! And now you're just going through my shit like you actually know me! Living on the same street doesn't make us friends, okay?"

Lash and Speed actually looked surprised when I screamed this in their faces, clutching my things to my chest as I ranted hysterically. When I was finally finished, chest heaving, I looked down at the ground and felt suddenly very mean; even though everything I'd said was quite true, it just seemed cruel to yell it in their faces. I knew it to be true that they'd never had any friends but one another and it was probably difficult to understand how to make another when they hadn't done so since first grade.

I let out a stream of breath and murmured earnestly, "Look, I'm sorry, but I've never been very good with people and having two guys just come up and say 'hey, be our friend' doesn't exactly work in my head."

Speed furrowed his blonde brow and crossed his arms, declaring strongly, "Well it's not like we wanted to just drag some girl along with us but we don't got a choice. We're still in deep shit for the whole 'Royal Pain' thing and we're just trying to get our parents off our backs. The way I see it, we can both get something out of this whole thing. Our parents leave us alone because we did what they wanted and your mom stops thinking your a social dumbass; mutual whatever, right?"

I looked at him levelly for a moment, wondering why his words didn't affect me in a negative manner; I mean, he was practically suggesting that we make our friendship a business agreement. A mutually beneficial business agreement with far more perks than downsides...

"I see what you're saying," I said quietly, nodding my head along with the idea. "Yeah," I muttered, voice getting stronger. "Win win situation."

"So as long as we spend a certain amount of time together at school and go over to each other's houses regularly, our parents'll get off our backs and we can go back to the way things used to be," Lash finished, shaking his black hair from his eyes; I'd already noticed him do this several times and chocked it up to some sort of tick.

"But let's face it," I said slyly, smiling turning upwards in a crafty crescent moon. "You've got more to lose than I do. I'm not the social retard my mom thinks; I could make a few friends if I really wanted to. But you two...you've beaten up everyone and their mom here. You wouldn't have a chance."

Lash and Speed's faces went blank for a split second before they began to understand that there was perhaps more to me than first met the eye. Lash narrowed his dark eyes and crossed his striped arms confrontationally, murmuring, "What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying that you better be nice or you can say goodbye to your freedom," I replied, feeling quite unlike myself; I felt like a seductive temptress from the movies, the evil puppeteer who had the heroes in the palm of her hand. That was strange; when had _I _become the villain and them the heroes?

"You're good," Speed nearly spat, squinting one eye and widening the other; it made him look positively comical, as though he were thinking too hard.

"You're a little more...talkative than I expected you to be," Lash said, tossing his hair to the side and watching me curiously. "You don't seem like the friendless type."

"Welcome to Maxville public school, where the skinny raccoon-eyed blonde flourishes and the oak-tree redhead despairs in the AV lab," I half joked, reshouldering my bag as the awkwardness caught back up to me; the seductive movie woman disappeared behind a curtain of now very untamable red hair and I felt like the normal foot-in-my-mouth self.

"Well you're hardly the weirdest looking thing here," Speed assured me in what I suppose was meant to be an attempt at consolation. "I mean, there's that weird glowing kid and his girlfriend, the guinea pig. And I mean, Peace and his weird Goth shit...just weird, man."

Lash grinned and entered in, "And then there's Speed. Hang with us and no one's gonna be staring at _you..._"

"Shut up," Speed laughed with a grin as he reached over and began to give his friend a high-speed noogie, which looked very violent and disheveled Lash's already unkempt black hair to the point of unrecognizability.

I couldn't help but laugh at the two, marveling over how two supposed "bullies" could treat each other so lightly. "Yeah, you're right; as long as you two stand next to me, I'll know why the other kids are pointing and laughing."

The two boys looked almost stunned by this joke even as I laughed but soon they were laughing too. "Watch where you're steppin', Macharyas," Speed warned, grinning. "We're the Big Bads around here."

"Uhuh," I murmured as the bell rang down the hall, signaling the end of our first period class. "Well, I better get back to gym class before that weird gym teacher sends goons after me or something. I guess I'll see you two later?" It was so strange to finally say that to someone; I was most likely going to see these two later, as we were currently bound by contract, and it was reassuring.

"Yeah, later," Lash agreed, raising a hand in farewell as the two boys made their way towards whatever class they so desired. Something in me admired their freedom to roam, the way they didn't care about the consequences of their actions. But another part of me realized that the freedom Lash and Speed celebrated was fake; real life wasn't like that. They would end up either working low paying jobs or becoming super villains. It was a sad truth I'd just come to accept after watching my mother's friends function in the real superhero world. You couldn't make it as just anyone; you had to be the next Commander or Jetstream to really get anywhere these days. My parents were lucky and I knew it.

9191919

Lunchtime was the time I really dreaded most in school; it was the one part of the day when other students could really determine how many friends you had. I was unused to having company during school meals so when I stepped out of the lunch line and found Lash and Speed waiting for me not ten feet away, I smiled.

"Hey," I greeted lamely, finding it slightly pleasing as they smiled in return and jerked their heads towards a table. This was all so surreal, suddenly having friends whether or not we were part of an agreement of any kind.

My disillusionment happened right then.

"Out of the way, chump change," Speed barked at a freshman boy, zooming up to him and knocking his food to the floor. "This is our table."

Lash added in his two cents by stretching out a long striped arm and tripping the unfortunate freshman until he was laying in a pile of his own lunch. Several nearby students averted their eyes, as though afraid to meet eyes with Speed and Lash lest they be next. I watched the whole scene with little or no feeling, as I didn't know the boy and only cared a little what happened to him. The way I saw it, much worse things could've happened than him walking away with pasta-soaked trousers. At least I thought the main course was pasta...it appeared to be moving so I wasn't about to judge.

"Take a seat, Macharyas, and enjoy the sweet life," Speed practically crowed, setting down his enormous lunch bag and preparing to unwrap his many hoagies.

Lash did the same on the other side of the table, nodding for me to pull up a chair at the end. Trying to ignore the judgmental stares I was receiving from my peers, I sat in my specified chair and hefted my fork bravely, staring down the still moving lunchmeat. Was it...gurgling?

I poked it slightly, earning looks from both adjacent boys.

"Is it still bubbling?" Lash asked after a moment, staring quizzically down at the mystery meat.

"I think maybe," I mumbled. "Is it...pasta?"

"I was thinkin' casserole," Speed mused, leaning in closer to take a whiff of the concoction. He screwed up his nose and snorted. "Ugh, that ain't pasta _or _casserole. That's..."

"Enigmatic at best," I concluded. "This would be why all of the smart kids brought bag lunches. Okay; lesson learned."

I reached for the basket of crackers a little ways down the table but found myself unable to reach; Lash quickly remedied the situation with a simple arm stretch and I found myself momentarily blinded. The stripes on his arm certainly created an optical illusion when he used his powers like that.

"Here; my ma packed an extra sandwich by accident," Speed offered, sounding as though he were unused to offering anyone anything. He looked uncomfortably honest and it made me smile again; these boys were really growing on me.

"Sure; thanks. What kinda sandwich is it?" I asked curiously, unwrapping the hoagie and examining the insides.

"Roast beef, I think," Speed replied, shrugging; he only really cared about the Tuna sandwich he was currently emaciating.

I grinned. "I love roast beef, awesome."

"And if you like the inside of Oreos, you've got yourself dessert," Lash laughed, earning a laugh from his overweight friend.

I furrowed my brow; I was obviously an outsider to this particular joke. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothin', Speed and I only eat the cookie part and it used to piss off my mom," Lash explained dismissively, waving the subject away with his hand as he ate his own sandwich, which appeared to be peanut butter and jelly.

"That's funny," I said bewilderedly. "I only at the cream part and we always had left over cookies."

Speed and Lash blinked, exchanging glances. "Weird," Speed muttered finally.

And thus, in the strangest way possible, began the likewise strangest friendship the world has ever known. I can't say whether or not it started with them cheering for me at my placement test or when we discovered our symbiotic Oreo eating styles, but we were inseparable from that day on. I don't know what it was and maybe I still don't, but we complete each other. Speed and Lash were doing fine on their own before I ever came along but I seemed to add the neutrality they always wanted. Sure, they were going for the whole pretentious bit when they used the words "neutral third party," but that's exactly what I was. I was the final piece in the three-part puzzle of our intertwining live, no matter how corny it sounds. Freshman year was without a doubt the best year of my life so far, all the way from the day Speed and I got Lash striped underwear from his birthday to the day Speed tripped into my mom's Boston cream pie and we laughed for hours. I know it seems like I left out formative years of our relationship, but it was my sophomore year that was really important.

Sophomore year...it changed everything.

9191919

**If you've gotten here, that means you read my chapter and I thank you most sincerely! I would love to share this story with others because it just makes me feel like a million fuckin' bucks, so do me a favor and review, even if it's only one word or if its anonymous or you just type in your name. Just a word is all I ask!**

**KOLU**


	2. Summer Reunion

Hello everyone

**Hello everyone! Thanks for reading the first chapter and here we go to the second. Because someone asked, I'm not discontinuing LDTL, don't freak. I just needed some time off and I channeled my energy into this piece. **

**This is Lash/Speed/Mack's reunion after a summer away and next chapter is the first day of school. Yayz. **

9191919

I hate the rainforest. It's nothing personal against the most championed after ecosystem on the planet, I just really hate rain. And forests. My hatred only grows when I remember the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, the very summer during which my father swept me away for a three month rainforest getaway. He insisted that connecting with the "beautiful outdoors" would help me unearth my hidden animal-summoning powers, the very ones I'd inherited from him; even after three months of soul searching and near malaria catching, I was no closer to a break-thru than before. I could still only summon one animal and we didn't get along, which seemed to be a sign that I should simply stick to telekinesis. Apparently the rainforest didn't calm me and direct me as it did my father; once more, I was a big disappointment.

The bright August day on which my father and I arrived back at our spacious home on Mockingbird Lane was without a doubt my favorite of the summer; I inhaled the scent of oak leaves and roasting brisket, which was no doubt coming from the McGonagall house. Speed's father cooked enough meat to feed his family twice over and I'm pleased to say I was always invited over to help Speed and Lash finish off the plate. The very thought of my best friends brought another wide grin to my face; Speed and Lash.

After spending the previous school year in such close company with them, it was nearly heartbreaking to spend any time at all away from them, be it a few weeks or three months, as it had been. I loved them like brothers and we completed each other, "ying to yang to...yong" as Speed had once eloquently put it. Coming back to Maxville meant one important thing to me; spending the remaining two weeks of summer with Speed and Lash. I could think of nothing better.

My father brought the car to a stop in our driveway and I savored the feeling of home; it was like a warm velvet blanket wrapped securely around my shoulder as I exited the car. My father, otherwise known as the Cougar, began unloading what little luggage we'd brought from the trunk, his sandy blonde hair unkempt and stubble prominent from his wildman days. He was strong and commanding, the very picture of a soldier, though I was often more frightened than awe-struck. When it came to heart-felt moments, my mother was the only parent who could provide; my father wasn't necessarily an emotional man.

"Take these inside," he said shortly, nodding to the two well-worn backpacks on the pavement. "I'm going to take the tents and canteens back around to the shed."

"Yes sir," I murmured in reply, nearly desperate to get away from him; three months of close companionship and my father still terrified me.

I practically sprinted towards the familiar green door, kicking it wide open to reveal the staircase, the rugs, the lamps, everything the way I remember. As barefoot steps came running in from the kitchen, I gasped in delight and found myself swept up in my mother's arms; it was good to be home.

"My baby!" my mother exclaimed, gathering me in an enormous hug and kissing the top of my frizzy red head. Her own red hair flowed loose and beautiful, mingling with mine as she continued to kiss my head with joy. "I'm glad to see you home! Where's your father?"

"Around back," I replied as we broke apart, allowing me to take in my mother's perfect blue eyes, charming smile and fit body. Speed had once told me that my mother was a "MILF" and I'd disregarded him with a snort. Now I realized precisely what he was talking about; perhaps it took going away and coming back for me to look past her motherly veneer. To me she would always be mom, not Brainwave or MILF, just mom. A mother that outweighed me in both looks and decency, but a mother nonetheless.

As my mother turned to greet my father in the back, her hair spun alive and left in its wake the scent of cinnamon, one which I would forever associate with family and home. Smiling to myself, I ran my hand over the wooden banister of our weather-beaten staircase; even the most mundane things seemed magical after three months of isolation.

I called out a word of parting to my parents as my feet began to take me out the door and down the street; my mother and father knew well where I was headed and, based on the protests I met, cared little. My mother had rejoiced in my acquisition of friends while my father had cast a slightly sterner eye over Lash and Speed, whom he knew to be troublemakers. After realizing that any friends were welcome at this point, he'd backed off the subject and allowed my mother her happiness; Beulah Macharyas was the only woman for which the Cougar would relent.

In the hotter months, we tended to occupy Speed's house to utilize his large pool and wide yard, which was good for not only playing around but training. It was difficult to say what kept me from the latter of these activities, but I just couldn't bring myself to fight with Speed and Lash, no matter how contrived the circumstance. As soon as I got ready to hit, the thought of laughing with them at lunch or playing cards on the roof of the school would infiltrate my brain and, lo and behold, the violence left me. No, I was content to just sit on the sidelines and watch them battle it out; they knew each other too well at this point to cause any lasting physical damage anyway. I knew that...I just couldn't partake in it all.

As I rounded the corner of Speed's house towards the yard, I began to hear the tell tale signs of summer roughhousing spilling over the high fence. My heart began to flutter with excitement as I drew in the strains of Speed's distinctive laughter and Lash's mocking protests; a moment later, Speed began to laugh uproariously and I knew Lash had began to tickle his sides. Though I'd at first thought Lash's power a little useless, he certainly knew how to take advantage of its benefits.

The gate was ajar and I tentatively pushed it open with a hideous creak of the hinges, exposing myself to the sight of Speed trying to power swim his way towards Lash, who was crouched at the end of the diving board; Speed appeared frustrated, though joyous, while Lash observed his best friend with his usual conceded smirk. The entire sight was quintessential Speed and Lash, something which warmed my heart to no end.

I was at first planning on calling out to the boys, who would've then exited the pool and come over for awkward hugs, but I was too unused to awkwardness at this point to cause such a disaster. Speed, Lash and I were not of the emotional touching variety; we preferred to keep our physical contact to a strictly violent level, such as playful hitting and riotous slaps on the back. They touched in a manly way and I followed suite; there was absolutely no reason to break tradition now.

A wicked grin spread across my face as I hollered, "Watch your back, Speed!" and sprinted towards to pool, launching high into the air and colliding with a pleasing splash on the surface of the water. The fact that I was fully clothed meant little, as well as the fact that my hair was in a strict bun and my face dirty with the dirt of the jungle. I was happy just to be with them.

I sank deep into the blue, hair escaping from its pin confines and moving strangely in the water as my neck relished in the coolness; the chlorine level was high and my eyes began to smart as I tugged on one of Speed's fat ankles, successfully bringing him down with me. The surprise on his chubby face was evident as he hollered unintelligible words at me, only creating a myriad of bubbles. Lash soon dove in from the diving board and we proceeded to have a ridiculous and highly unsuccessful game of tea party, during which Speed continually seemed to say, "futon foam" and Lash replied "tuna sherwood." We rose quickly to the surface to reunite in a more realistic setting, an action which became difficult for me as my khaki jungle clothes grew soaked with pool water.

Speed spluttered and wiped a hand over his eyes, blinking repeatedly as he panted, "You're here already! I thought you weren't coming back until tonight."

Shrugging as best I could whilst I treaded water, I replied dismissively, "I tried to get dad through customs as fast as I could; he was a bitch the whole time and I was sick of it."

Lash laughed as he tossed his unruly hair away from his eyes, causing his long bangs to plaster comically against his forehead. "Your dad a bitch? That's new and exciting."

The way in which the three of us completed each other was a strange mechanism. We each brought a different element to the table, each as important as the next, and I'd become so used to our meshing personalities that this little pow wow in the pool was the most normal I'd felt in months. I was thoughtful and cautious, always examining a situation from every possible angle before attacking it; this often brought with it a certain level of order, however boring. Speed was a jolly sort of kid who charged headlong into everything, laughing his way through the inevitable chaos which always came from his impetuous nature. Lash was sarcastic, cocky and smart, though his hot temper often got him into more trouble than his intelligence could get him out of. Fortunately, we all created a perfect balance. If Lash was in a funk, Speed joked him out of it. If Speed got carried away, I brought him back to earth with my realism. If I was unable to stick up for myself with my fearfulness, Lash charged in on my behalf. If Lash's anger got him in to trouble, Speed backed him up and I followed quickly. The entire system was flawless and had worked countless times my freshman year. I only assumed that sophomore year would be the same.

The three of us wordlessly decided to exit the pool, another example of our uncanny ability to decide the same thing at the same time without discussion. Speed tossed a towel at my chest, which I quickly used to squeeze out my hair; it had grown rather long in the jungle.

Speed watched me for a minute and then asked bluntly, "Do you ever get shit stuck in your hair? Like, leaves or lizards or whatever?"

I snorted. "Lizards? I don't really know where I would find lizards to put in my hair, Speed."

"No, just like...any kinda shit. It's just...it's long and big and..." Speed trailed off during his description of my hair, gesturing wildly with his hands.

Lash simply grinned and concluded, "That's what she said."

While I laughed naughtily, tossing my towel playfully at Lash to offer some kind of admonishment, Speed let out a frustrated sound. His lightly freckled cheeks grew slightly red as he growled, "I told you if you said that one more time, I was gonna shank you; get ready to be shanked!"

"Let's see you try," Lash replied with the light of competition rising up in his dark eyes; he began dancing lightly from foot to foot, beckoning Speed mockingly as his large friend simmered with frustration. I could only imagine the two boys on their own all summer, making sexual jokes endlessly and growing tired of each and every one. The very thought made me shake with giggles.

Deciding to get in on the fun before the boys lunged at one another, I silently concentrated on my objective: _Lift them, lift them. _Warmth surged through my body as I unconsciously lifted my hands to imitate the motion and, soon, both Speed and Lash had risen a few feet off the ground where they now floundered, looking slightly surprised.

"Shanked by a girl," I joked, grinning from where I sat, sopping wet in my brown jungle khakis as my obnoxiously curly hair spilled around my face in ugly clumps. My appearance didn't matter when it came to Speed and Lash and I relished in the fact.

"Whoa...you couldn't lift us both at the same time before you left," Speed said almost nervously, making a few strange swimming motions which served little purpose; I held them fast in place. His enormous round body looked comical as it hung there in midair.

Lash glanced down at himself, waving his arms and legs experimentally, before he asked, "Do a little training in the jungle, Animal?"

At the familiar and not completely welcome nickname, I rolled my eyes; I'd once attempted to show Speed and Lash my summoning powers on their numerous requests. I'd succeeded, but they'd only laughed themselves silly at the awful truth: I could only summon one animal and he didn't seem to care if I was his master or some hapless human for his breakfast. After witnessing my general incompetence at creature summoning, the two boys had begun to mockingly call me "Animal." The name had stuck and other students at Sky High had begun to use it in place of my actual name; the whole thing made me quite mad.

"Well, it's not like I was having any luck with the whole summoning thing," I replied bitterly, crossing my arms and drawing up my skinny legs to sit Indian style in the deck chair. "I just ended up practicing my telekinesis."

"You mean no luck with Phinnaeus?" Speed laughed rudely, clapping his hands with mirth at the very thought of my impertinent soul animal.

Brow lowering dangerously, I allowed the large boy to drop quickly towards the ground and he let out an undignified sound of terror, a noise which sounded vaguely like to cawing of an egret. Lash laughed hysterically at his friend's obvious terror.

"I _will _drop you," I warned Speed, mouth contorting into an angry sort of twist.

"Alright, alright, chill," Speed said quickly, holding out his hands in a peaceable gesture. "Just put us down."

I obliged, allowing the boys to float gently back to earth as I nursed my wounded ego. Lash walked on his lanky legs to the table, taking a seat in the chair on my right; I noticed he looked the same if not for his healthy tan. I noticed Speed's freckled skin hadn't darkened in the summer, though his expression was dark enough as he lumbered to the seat on my left; he hated being bested by my telekinesis and I knew it well.

"I don't understand why you can't just tell that thing to do what you tell it to or you'll kick its ass," Speed muttered to me, propping up his feet on the table. Giving me a pointed glare, he gestured to me with one thick index finger. "It's _your _inner beast or whatever the hell. Just tell it to sit, stay and all that stuff."

Lash rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his dark hair; this had become his habit over the past year as he tried more consciously to restrain his anger. "It weighs almost one thousand pounds, dumbass. If anyone should be giving orders, it's him."

I frowned. "Hey, that's not true; I could give it orders if I really wanted, I just don't want to. I'm happy with my mind powers and I don't need a huge cat bringing down my grades in school while I try to figure out what to do with it."

Speed pointed out with a knowing expression, "But you might need it if you ever get picked for Save the Citizen."

"I didn't get picked last year and I doubt someone'll come back from the summer all interested in me," I replied with an uncaring shrug, drawing wet circles on the tabletop with my thumb. It seemed to be a general opinion that battling me was like social suicide; apparently, everyone was under the impression that harming a single hair on my head would invoke the wrath of the infamous Speed and Lash.

Truth be told, I didn't know if that was actually the case; part of me wondered if they would let me fight my own battle. Lash was constantly preaching to me that I needed to stick up for myself while Speed seemed content to do it for me. In the end, Lash would join in and anyone who dared cross my path soon found themselves threatened with a speedy, stretchy death. At this point in my school career, none of the confrontations had ever turned physical because no one was audacious or foolish enough to challenge Speed and Lash to a fight. Only a few catty girls and some jealous boys had heard from my watchdogs, but I hoped the numbers would dwindle sophomore year. Fighting had never really interested me anyway.

"You can't just assume no one's going to challenge you," Lash interrupted my thoughts on cue. He looked frustrated by my lack of inner fire, though I was used to it. Lash expected the world to get heated about issues like him and, when others failed to satisfy him with a suitable level of outrage, it only worsened his anger. "You're just asking for someone to pick you when you act like it'll never happen. Just watch someone like Stronghold pick a fight with you; what then?"

"Will's not interested in small time heroes like me," I argued, shaking my head. "He's more likely to challenge you two."

"No way," Speed shot back, snorting arrogantly. "He never wants to be the villain and fighting everyone else is a waste of his time, so he doesn't even show up anymore half the time. It's not like we're gonna choose him, anyway; it's like fighting a brick wall. A really dumb, gay brick wall."

"He can't be that gay if he's really doing that redhead chick," Lash sniggered, obviously referring to Layla Williams.

At my friend's crude referral, my frown deepened. "She has a name, you know. And I kind of like Will and Layla, they're always nice to me when you two are doing detention time at lunch."

"Stronghold's boring as hell," Speed replied, tipping his chair arrogantly back on two legs. "I mean, every superhero ever can do the shit he does; super strength and flying are old news."

"You can't go wrong with the classics," I said in response, smiling slightly. "You're just jealous, admit it."

This provoked Lash's wrath, which was growing closer to the surface by the minute. "Jealous of Stronghold? Shoot me in the face when that happens." The dark-haired boy crossed his long arms haughtily over his tan chest, looking pointedly off in another direction.

I found myself regretting my teasing; I knew it only put Lash in a bad mood and set Speed up on the defensive, so why did I provoke them? Perhaps there was a small little part of me that simply wanted to be friends with the rest of the students at Sky High. Only on days when Speed and Lash were detained by Principal Powers did I get any sort of social freedom whatsoever. On a day when my two friends were glued to my hip, hanging out with Will and the sidekicks was like asking for turmoil to erupt. On top of this, most of the others daren't even come close to me out of sheer terror; Lash and Speed had a reputation that they were undoubtedly proud of, however much it irked me. In the end, being friends with Lash and Speed was like forsaking any other companionship.

"Well, as long as you two don't lose Save the Citizen, I won't have to play," I said with a smile, bringing the conversation back to slightly safer ground. "Reigning champions, right?"

Both boys glanced up at my praise, noticing my courteous overlooking of their junior year loss. I'd heard the stories and seen the actual footage of their battle against Will and Warren Peace; my boys had dominated for the first few minutes until Will seemed to gather his wits about him. It had all been downhill from there and the whole affair had ended with Speed and Lash face-flat against the arena wall. After Will had practically retired from Save the Citizen due to sheer boredom, Lash and Speed had regained control and had yet to lose again. I only hoped it stayed that way.

Looking at me levelly, Speed finally relented and echoed, "Reigning champions," with a grudging smile on his face.

Lash agreed, "Yeah," with a reluctant grin tickling his lips.

To seal the moment, I stuck out my hand palm down over the table. Speed followed my lead and Lash followed suite until we'd made a pile; we then began to madly pull out and pile our hands on top of each others' until we grunted, "Top dogs," in deep, low barks. The lame handshake seemed to dissolve the tension across the table and I found myself relieved; though the three of us had never fought for a substantial amount of time I didn't care to know what it was like.

"Is that Ms. Mackenzie MacHaryas I see?" came a deep rumbling voice from the porch. Mr. McGonagall, an enormous man with the girth to match his son's came strutting out towards the table, throwing his barrel arms wide and grinning recklessly. "Welcome home, Animal, it's been hell without ya!"

I smiled despite myself and rose to give the friendly man a hug; I sank into his large chest and nearly laughed, the sensation was so strange but familiar. Lash and Speed's parents had taken to me right off, half out of delight that their plan had worked and half because I brought their sons down to a respectable behavior. It was probably nice just to see a girl walking around with the two arrogant teens, though I could hardly be so conceded; my parents were ecstatic over the thought of friends period.

"How was the jungle?" Mr. McGonagall asked excitedly. His eyes grew wide and offset his enormous grin, the very same one his son wore on many occasions.

I shrugged. "Green. Pretty much like a big garden, if you ask me."

"Oh come now, Mackenzie, it must've been more remarkable than that," came a silky smooth voice from the doorway.

Mrs. McGonagall was the exact opposite of her husband in appearance; she was a tall, thin blonde lady with beautiful features and an elegant air. She seemed to wear nothing but white pants and solid colored tops, a fact which only added to her enigmatic appeal. Lash enjoyed telling Speed that his mother was "a hottie with a body," but this only made Speed angry. Speed was close to his parents and, disregarding the one time they'd punished him for leaguing himself with Royal Pain, they rarely disagreed. Mrs. McGonagall, with her fancy airs, always seemed to think that I was in desperate need of a feminine role model and often tried to lure me to the mall for a little "girl time." Nothing could've interested me less, frankly. My mother still did all my shopping back then; sophomore year would be the first time I went out on my own and chose an article of clothing for myself.

"Hi, Mrs. McGonagall," I greeted politely, nodding my head slightly to her. "I'm soaking wet, I don't want to ruin your clothes," I explained sheepishly.

Mr. McGonagall feigned outrage and grumbled, "Oh, and my clothes don't matter?" Speed rolled his eyes and Lash laughed at the fact that the older man was wearing cargo shorts and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, the only things he practically ever wore. Speed obviously took after his father when it came to fashion sense.

As Ms. McGonagall placed one well manicured hand on her husband's shoulder, the beefy man asked eagerly, "Does anyone want some ribs? Maybe some steak?"

I surprised my present company by exclaiming ravenously, "All of the above, please; I'm desperate after eating only berries and nuts for three months!"

While Ms. McGonagall looked slightly offended by the thought of carrying on such a dirty life in the jungle, Mr. McGonagall began laughing, a deep rumbling sound, while Speed and Lash laughed out of sheer surprise; I was hardly the ravenous type on average.

At that moment, the backyard gate creaked open behind us and my father's stern voice called out over the yard, "Don't make it sound like I starved you, Mackenzie."

I blushed slightly as my father came walking imperiously in the gate while my mother followed close behind, carrying on a light conversation with Lash's parents, who followed behind. The giggling and tittering of my mother and Bernadette Gregorio was loud and ridiculous sounding, though Speed's mother seemed to brighten up at the sound and hurried over to greet her guests, eager to catch up on the gossip.

Lash's father, a tall and kindly man, stood like a willow amongst mere garden trees, his pale, sickly face smiling and warm as always. It had become increasingly rare to see him outside of the house, for he was of an unfortunately sickly countenance; my mother had only told me a few sketchy details of the incident, but I seemed to know the important bits. Mr. Gregorio had once been a superhero like mine and Speed's parents, but a run-in with a villain known as The Doctor had left him badly infected with a debilitating poison. For whatever reason, modern medicine was unable to cure him and Mr. Gregorio had lived the last few years very unsteadily, teetering on the edge of good health. He appeared to have minor trouble walking and coughed a great deal, but he was without a doubt the nicest man I'd ever met. Lash practically idolized him and I found it impossibly sad; whenever Mr. Gregorio left the house, Lash seemed to think his father was about to suffer cardiac arrest and die on the spot. Judging by the way Lash rose immediately to greet his parents, this day was no exception.

"Larry," my father greeted Speed's rather informally, shaking hands with the other man and managing a tight smile. Despite their obvious differences in personality, my father always seemed to like Mr. McGonagall.

"Lance!" the enormous man exclaimed, grinning broadly at my father. "Good to see you. You too, Kristos, it's been a while!"

"Taking it easy," Mr. Gregorio explained in a light Greek accent, shaking hands with both men before him before giving us three teenagers a friendly wink.

"The McGonagalls were nice enough to invite us for a family barbeque," my mother explained needlessly, resting her hands on my shoulders from behind and placing a kiss on top of my head; she had obviously suffered from seriously withdrawal while I'd been away. "Oh, Mackenzie! You jumped in the pool in your clothes?" she exclaimed upon finding her hands wet with pool water.

I blushed slightly as Lash's mother waved her long-nailed hands frivolously. "Oh, Beulah, relax! Girls will be girls!" she simpered, smiling at me with enormous red lips.

Bernadette Gregorio was every bit the New Yorker and seemed slightly out of place in the warm suburbs of Maxville. Her loud manner and brightly colored clothes were slightly obnoxious, though one couldn't help but be enamored with her friendly nature. Lash often felt smothered by his mother's overprotective mindset, but it was easy to see that he regarded her with much the same protectiveness he felt for his father. Speed had once imparted to me the knowledge that Lash felt compelled to protect his family while his father was out of commission. It didn't help that Lash's sister had a slight attitude problem.

As if on cue, Lash's sister came walking slowly through the gate, looking as though she'd rather be anywhere else but a neighborhood barbeque. My experience with Athena Gregorio was limited, mostly due to the fact that she disdained the very sight of me. At Sky High she was though of as popular and slightly slutty, well-known to be a friend of Penny Harrington's. Both were cheerleaders, though Athena focused more on dance as an art form; when she wasn't using her ability to control sound to cause general chaos amongst her fellow students, she spent long hours practicing with not only the school's dance team but several teams back in Maxville. Her arrogance was only exacerbated by the fact that she was hopelessly pretty. Athena Gregorio was everything I wasn't and it didn't help the tense air between us whenever we happened to encounter each other. I'd once given her my pet cat to cheer her up when we were children and we'd gotten along well enough then; why did high school have to change everything?

Lash glanced at his sister, who switched her thin hips to the right and tossed her silken black mane to one side, peering at her brother through thickly lined brown eyes and pouting her perfect lips like flower petals in full bloom. She was obviously trying to wordlessly convince Lash to get her out of the barbeque, which Lash obviously had no intention of doing; he only rolled his eyes and shook his head, turning away from his sister to greet his mother. Athena huffed indignantly and stormed prettily over to her father, taking his arm in hers and hugging closely to his side. Another part of Athena's perfect-storm-of-an-attitude-disorder had to do with her parents' inability to correct her; she was a helpless daddy's girl and close to her mother's heart due to her love of fashion. Being a famous in-town hairdresser and beautician, Bernadette loved dressing up her pretty daughter like a Barbie doll.

Upon seeing her son, Bernadette smiled and reached up to fix Lash's unruly black hair, which was still wet and unwilling to do anything but fly in several directions.

"James, you're a mess," she cooed, smiling all the while. Lash smiled indulgently in return, though I could tell his mother embarrassed him.

Speed had, by this time, walked up to his own mother, who was working her hands through his short hair contentedly. Mister and Misses McGonagall were absolutely enamored with their son, who was their only remaining child at home. They had an older son and Ms. McGonagall's daughter from a previous marriage, though both were already living abroad doing freelance hero work elsewhere. Speed spoke only fleetingly of his older half-sister, who dabbled in air control and was currently under contract by the United States government for some sort of ecological program, but he continually talked of his brother Jude. Jude was apparently a speed demon like his father and brother and lived in New York where he did some heroics whilst modeling on the side. This boy had apparently not inherited his father's enormous girth and love of food. Form pictures, Jude appeared to be absolutely gorgeous; the fact that he modeled hardly came as a surprise.

And then of course there was me. No siblings and only my awkward parents to speak with. Sometimes I was jealous of my friends until I remembered that Lash's family was fragile because of his father's illness and that Speed's parents had become almost afraid of what their son might become after his brief dabbling in villainy. After recalling these facts, my tense relationship with my strict father and occasionally disparaging mother didn't seem so bad.

"Why don't you go get properly dressed for dinner," my mother suggested, giving me a chiding eye which clearly said "try to be more ladylike."

Glancing down at my sopping wet jungle khakis, I blushed and murmured, "Yes ma'am. I'll be right back."

"Animal, we'll come," Lash said quickly, grabbing his discarded t-shirt from the table as Speed did the same. Judging by their expressions, the boys were equally as desperate to leave the family gathering as I was.

"Would you like to come, Athena?" I offered, smiling brightly and trying to inspire a good reaction from the sullen girl.

From her position against her father's side, Athena scowled slightly and simpered, "No thanks," in a syrupy voice, giving me a withering dark glare before returning her attentions to Mr. Gregorio. I blanched slightly at the brush off, though Speed's firm hand on my shoulder quickly escorted me through the fence and out into the front yard.

"Sorry, my sister's a bitch," Lash snorted, reaching down to place his right hand in his pocket as he always did but finding that his swim trunks had none.

"No she's not," I protested. "She's just used to a different kind of girl. We just like different things, no big deal." I really felt for Athena sometimes; she was incredibly attached to her father and seemed to be under the delusion that he would survive to see her get married, have children, and grow old. Athena was only a year older than me and Lash had once told me that he expected his father to last for his graduation but not his sister's. Athena would be devastated if this were the case.

Speed jumped in quickly, "Yeah, bud, she's way girlier than Animal. They couldn't get along if you paid them."

It was difficult to see who's side Speed was on in this argument, for I knew for a fact that he'd had a crush on Athena since they was very young. By making the gap between Athena and me so large, he was essentially pushing me to one side and placing her on a pedestal. But Lash had absolutely no idea about the entire underlying situation and seemed to think that Speed was only agreeing with me to be nice. If he only knew...

"She needs to get over herself, it's fucking annoying," Lash cursed, rolling his dark eyes with an exaggerated hand gesture. "I just want to punch her in the face!"

"Yeah, don't do that," I urged cautiously, shaking my head. "Not a good plan."

"I wouldn't _actually,_" Lash replied, giving me a withering glance not unlike his sister's. "But that doesn't mean I don't think about it when she gives me all that attitude. I'm older than her, so why doesn't she act like it?"

"Same reason Animal's tiger doesn't listen to her; they think they're better," Speed entered in with an uncharacteristically wise comment. At the thought of my soul-animal, an enormous tiger named Phinnaeus, my mood just worsened; three months in the rainforest and I still wasn't any closer to unlocking the secrets of our relationship than I'd been when I left. We seemed doomed, Phinnaeus and me, though I could only look forward to a life of telekinetic excellence. Who needed animal summoning powers when I could move objects with my mind?

My house was cool inside, a welcome change from the heady heat of the summer. Lash and Speed followed me up the stairs as they had so many times before, talking about Warren Peace as they went.

"His mom is working with my mom on some weird downtown murder thing and she was, like, in my kitchen yesterday," Speed related, looking confused by the whole affair.

Lash's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair at the mention of any member of the Peace family in his friend's kitchen. The two plopped down on my bed as I began leafing through the clothes in my closet, which were unfamiliar to my eyes after a few months away. It looked as though my mother had gone shopping for me in my absence, judging by the price tags still occupying several seams. To my dismay, she'd thrown out my favorite pair of jean shorts, which she considered "ratty." I just considered them worn-in. A new pair had been bought to replace them and I pulled them down only to discover an alarming design on the backside.

I exited the closet to show Lash and Speed, who were still talking about Mrs. Peace.

"Was she a bitch?" Lash asked curiously, leaning back against my wall.

"Naw, man, she was pretty nice," Speed said bewilderedly, throwing up his hands. "She's a shape shifter, like a real one, not like the guinea pig girl. She can turn into anything, it's way cool."

"Look, guys, my mom went shopping," I said with dread lacing my voice. I first showed them the front side of my new pair of short, which they regarded with ambivalence. When I turned the shorts around, they made simultaneous faces of horror: each butt cheek was decorated with a heart patch which had the word "naughty" scrawled across it in tattoo script.

My mother enjoyed crusading for the end of my prudishness, though I doubted it would come anytime soon. I simply wasn't interested in such things as sex and teenage lust; these things sort of disgusted me, in fact.

"Animal, you're not seriously going to wear that," Lash said in a low voice, mouth agape with disgust and a bit of perverted wonder.

"Are you kidding?" I screeched, voice raising several octaves. "These are going in the bottom of my closet where no one will ever find them. Ever."

As I threw them dismissively behind a rack of clothes where my "forbidden wear" resided, Speed commented, "You know, Animal, you should wear some of that stuff to school."

Lash sniggered and I threw a withering glance over my shoulder. "Don't start with me. I'm happy with the way I dress."

"Nobody's saying you're not," Speed replied offhandedly, snorting with laughter under his breath. "It helps me keep track of the days of the week, I ain't complaining."

Lash laughed at this as well and I narrowed my eyes as I leafed through several pieces of clothing I considered inappropriate. "You're a boy, it's different for you. I like to know what I'm going to wear when I get up the next morning; it gives me more time to sleep." Speed and Lash only continued to laugh and I sighed.

Speed was referring to my clothing system, which I'd developed many years prior in middle school. Every day of the week was assigned and outfit and, come hell or high water, the outfit would be worn on its day of the week and replaced by no other. Each outfit was specifically designed so that, in the winter time, I could accessorize with tights or undershirts and then shed them in the summer when the heat returned. The colors varied between green, red and blue (the only colors I wore) and the fabrics were of more or less durable varieties. Sure, a few of these outfits were beginning to look more the worse for wear, but I was still comfortable in them and that was what mattered. There was stability in my system; stability, security and no room for screw-ups. I liked that.

"It's Thursday, Animal," Lash informed me, pointing with a smirk to my calendar. "Red dress day."

I frowned and glanced over towards my dress rack, spotting the dress in question; it was simple, just a red flowing dress with a red ribbon at the empire line, but I liked simple things. Just seeing it there, begging to be worn on its proper day...I gave in to temptation quickly and grabbed my Thursday dress from the hangar, trying to ignore Speed and Lash's whip sounds coming from my bedroom.

"Your closet's got you whipped," Lash called out, making a few more obnoxious cracking noises.

"Bite me," I replied stiffly, slamming shut my closet door to change inside.

Shedding my jungle khakis was a matter of pride. I'd worn practically nothing else for the past three months and was glad just to be rid of them. They were sopping wet and hit the ground with a squelch, which made me wince; so long, nasty, shapeless, bug-ridden horrors. As I pulled the dress over my head and tugged it down, I noticed a certain amount of resistance; normally the dress just sort of floated on. Furrowing my brow at the unexpected difficulty, I gave an extra sharp tug and the ribbon line finally came down in its appropriate place under my bust; this was when I noticed something odd. Whereas in May I'd looked down and been able to follow my legs all the way to my shoes, I now had to crane my head over just slightly; I gasped. Where had _those _come from? I turned this way and that, aghast at the sight of them; breasts. I had breasts. Apparently wearing shapeless khakis had prevented me from truly noticing the change. They were _there. _

"Animal, you alright in there?" came Speed's voice from outside; they'd obviously heard me gasping over my new appendages.

"Um, yeah, just a minute," I replied, still staring down at them. Fortunately, the dress was scoop necked and not v-necked; I might've been tartish had that not been the case. I smiled slightly at the thought; _I _might have been slutty. How was that for a change?

I pushed open the closet door, still trying to arrange my hair properly; it was in sore need of product. I was slipping on some flip-flops when I noticed a shattering silence in the room; Speed and Lash were barely even breathing. I glanced over at my friends, who were sitting on my bed staring at me in the quiet; their eyes were confused but their mouths closed.

"What?" I asked hesitantly, slightly alarmed.

"You look different," Lash pointed out, just as confused as I. "Did you get taller again? You're gonna be like the jolly green giant."

"I didn't grow," I protested, backing up against the door frame where I'd been measuring my height since my younger days; true to my word, my head sat right at the 15 year mark from the year before. "See?"

"He's right though," Speed remarked, cocking his head to the side. "Weird. Wonder what that's about."

"I dunno," I lied, suddenly wishing I had at least one girl friend to talk with. I couldn't run up to Speed and Lash and begin excitedly gushing about the arrival of my womanhood. Best friends or not, there were certain barriers that would absolutely not be crossed.

As we loped across the hot pavement towards Speed's house, I felt a strange tickling in the back of my brain. It wasn't an itch that could easily be scratched, as it appeared to be coming from inside my skull; I frowned and reached up to knead my head awkwardly. This feeling had been lingering around since my time in the rain forest and I was hoping it wasn't some sort of odd bug-sting-induced disease sprouting up.

"What the hell are you doing?" Speed sniggered. I hadn't stopped to wonder how strange my head-kneading might look to others.

"My brain itches," I explained lamely. "Like...I dunno."

"Your _brain _itches?" Lash echoed, raising one of his dark eyebrows skeptically. "Maybe you should have that looked at, Animal."

Speed laughed at this while I only scowled up at the shaggy-haired boy. "Yeah? Well, speaking of 'jolly green giants', Lash, you're looking a little thick. Too many cheetos?"

Lash looked aghast at the very insinuation that he might ever be considered pudgy and immediately lifted his shirt, giving me a priceless look of disagreement. Though my accusations were completely false and his midriff was washboard like always, knowing that I'd injected that doubt gave me strong satisfaction.

"Are you kidding? I worked out all fucking summer!" Lash practically roared, leaning over to hit me in the back of the head.

Luckily, I ducked just in time and used my telekinesis to pull the hem of Lash's t-shirt up over his face. As he stumbled around, trying in vain to reach back and unhook the shirt from his head, Speed could only laugh hysterically at the sight. Quite pleased with myself, I grinned and tried to push away the annoying tickle in the back of my head; it was still there, after all this time.

"Bitch," Lash murmured as he finally righted himself, running a hand through his hair while shooting me dark glares.

I rolled my eyes at the term, which was becoming more desensitized in my mind by the day, and turned my attention to Speed. "Two weeks, my friend. You ready for school to start up again?"

Speed snorted and raised one thick eyebrow at me. "Am I ever? I don't even go when we're _in _school, Animal."

"Yeah, well, summer can get boring," I mumbled, recalling every summer of my youth. Without friends, three months could be incredibly boring indeed.

Lash, apparently recovered from his recent defeat, added in, "Only if you're not creative. Idiots get bored in the summer."

"Or social pariahs," I pointed out, alluding to my past. Speed and Lash didn't know much about former Mackenzie because there wasn't much to know; I hadn't really _been_ much before them.

"Or idiots," Lash repeated, obviously overruling my frequent and possibly irritating self-deprecation.

"Yeah, or that," I conceded with a small smile.

As we walked in relative silence towards the McGonagall house, I felt the three of us slipping back into that familiar but unexplainable rhythm, as though we were the only humans of importance in the entire world. Something about our little trio made the entire atmosphere perfect; it was as if we'd been predestined to only spend time with each other. Sure, sometimes I hurt for female companionship, but only when something entirely and utterly female came up, like the arrival of my breasts. I was just content, otherwise, to float with Speed and Lash in a sea entirely of our own.

Before I could draw in too deep, two voices growled simultaneously, "Stop thinking." It had become our personal joke that when I drifted off, Speed and Lash were the only ones who could bring me back.

I could only laugh happily; it was good to be home.

9191919

**Thank you everyone for your reviews and feedback; I'm glad you liked the story and I'm perfectly happy to continue. I have a lot of plans (can't say how they'll work out, we all know what plans are like when you write a fanfic, lol) but I hope it turns out great. Speed and Lash give me warm fuzzies.**

**KOLU**


	3. Welcome Back

**Thanks for all the positive responses; here's the next chapter!**

9191919

"Get the fuck up!"

Unaccustomed as I was to being literally thrown out of bed, I couldn't help but laugh as I landed flat on my back, staring up at Lash and Speed's grinning faces; though it was decidedly unlike them to look excited on the first day of school, it wasn't in me to complain about this novel turn of events. It was a small wonder that I wasn't levitating those two out of bed for once; on average, they were easily classified as "late" and "lazy."

Grumbling a little just to give them the satisfaction, I pushed myself up from the floor, scratching at my tangled mane of hair. "What the hell are you two so eager about?"

"Your mom made pancakes," Speed explained, rubbing his stomach like an enormous Buddha.

I simply rolled my eyes and began half-heartedly pushing the two boys towards the door. "Yeah, yeah, go down and get started. I have to put on my Mondays."

"Don't get too crazy with your clothes, Animal, it embarrasses us," Lash joked in a serious tone.

With one last glare, I slammed the door shut and went about my morning business. It had become our custom to wake each other up before school and we alternated every three days; the whole system was sad and repetitive, as well as completely unnecessary, but it was one of our stranger habits. Waking me up was arguably the most rewarding because my mother tended to bake me enormous breakfasts to compensate for how little she and my father were home during the school year. Their absence bothered me little, but my mother's thought process was one I still couldn't quite understand.

I managed to rake some product through my hair and produce tight red curls, the ones I'd only dreamed of as a ratty-haired child. Marveling over modern science, I donned my green dress with the shamrock collar and hurried downstairs for a tantalizing pancake breakfast.

Lash and Speed had already begun their destruction of my breakfast table in earnest, all under my mother's beaming eye. She'd taken right off to the two boys, who lavished her with praise over her extravagant meals; it was times like this when I wondered where both boys were putting the pancakes they so easily devoured. Speed showed some of the evidence, but Lash was still tall and slight as he'd always been. Comparatively, Speed's diet should've made him roughly the size of three condos. Perhaps it was all that running about which kept him slightly fit.

"Dude, Animal, you're gonna help us welcome the freshmen today," Speed informed me, laughing with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I glanced up from my plate apprehensively, hearing my mother greet me faintly in the background; I'd been about to pile pancakes onto my plate when Speed interrupted my mood with this suggestion. I knew what it meant for Speed and Lash to "greet the freshmen" and I didn't think of myself as cut out for such work.

"I dunno...maybe you two should just do it like you always do," I replied noncommittally, hoping they didn't press the issue.

Just as I'd worried, the two boys exchanged glance before Lash fixed me with a pair of confused black eyes. "You don't want to?"

"That's not it," I managed to get out quickly. "I just don't want to cramp your style."

"Whatever, Animal," Speed laughed, reaching over to ruffle my hair in the way I simultaneously loved and hated. "We could use some flashy lookin' powers like yours. Just lift a couple of 'em and throw their crap around, it'll be great!"

I nodded, smiling weakly as I poured syrup over my little pancake stack; I didn't know how I felt about this entire thing. I'd normally just watched on as Lash and Speed bullied the other kids, enjoying the view but averse to getting involved. From what I knew about myself, I was generally afraid of violent physical contact when I wasn't roughhousing with Speed and Lash. I couldn't even fight them, for Christ's sake; how was I supposed to attack a group of helpless little freshmen?

"C'mon, Animal, we're gonna miss the bus," Lash said after a while of silent eating, snaking out his stretchable arms to grab our backpacks from the door and drawing them into the kitchen.

I could only heft my backpack and murmur a goodbye to my mother before the boys swept me out the door, talking and laughing easily between them as I stayed silent in the center. When we were about thirty feet from the bus stop, where a few kids were already lingering, Lash turned to me with an indulgent look on his face and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"You don't have to if you don't want to; you can just watch."

I smiled gratefully; Lash had always been the more perceptive of the two boys and I was incredibly thankful for it now. "Yeah, okay. I might join in if I feel like a badass."

"Sweet," he replied with a grin, straightening back up and adopting his tough face as neared the other students; I was used to this transformation when it came to both my friends and I only continued to smile.

It was just our luck that Sky High had consolidated the bus stops last year and thrown together our neighborhood with the only one my two friends couldn't tolerate: that of Will Stronghold. Will and Layla were already standing, hand in hand, beneath the bright yellow sign. Several students were clustered around them, eager to rub elbows with the son of the Commander and Jetstream, and the couple laughed at something, radiating happiness. It always warmed my heart to watch Will and Layla interact because it gave me hope for others. If they could be this happy with all of their complications, so could someone else.

I waved brightly to the group of students, calling out, "Hey everyone!"

Lash and Speed stayed silent and relatively stone-faced on either side of me, though this was the way our school lives worked; I served as the spokeswoman and social liaison while they provided bodyguard back cover. The students before us smiled at me while some called out a hello in return, though a few of them simply looked wary. Even after their defeat, Speed and Lash were still absolutely terrifying.

"Mackenzie!" Layla exclaimed excitedly, breaking away from Will to give me a warm hug.

I startled slightly, unused to the exuberant response, and found myself hugging the girl in return; I had to admit, it was nice to hear my real name for once. "Layla!" I replied with the same excitement; I couldn't seem ambivalent to a greeting like that. "How was your summer?"

"Great! Will's parents took us to Europe!" she gushed, beginning to tell me all about her trip. Beside me I heard Lash groan imperceptibly and I discreetly pinched his side, urging him to be quiet. It was rare that I had any contact with girls and I was desperate need of it on my first day of sophomore year.

The bus pulled open only moments later and Ron Wilson, the excitable bus driver, shouted out his unnecessarily loud greetings as we piled in through the musty old doors. The cabin was already full except for the two especially reserved seats. One was located just behind Ron; this belonged to Will and Layla, who took it graciously and began asking Ron kindly about his summer. The last remaining seat was the back row of the bus; this row was the only one containing three seats and had, therefore, been stolen by Speed and Lash as our permanent thrones.

As we buckled ourselves in, Ron called out a warning and we began traveling at an alarming speed, one which brought with it a certain rush and simultaneous shiver. It was well known to my two friends that I feared precisely two things: needles and high speeds. In response, they tried to keep my occupied during the bus rides so as to prevent me from either vomiting or bursting into hysterical tears; they were helpless should either of these things occur.

"My mom said we're getting a transfer student from England," Speed began, glancing over to see what we thought; each of us always wanted the other two opinions.

Lash blinked. "Like 'pip pip cheerio, thanks for the crumpets' England?"

"Yeah," Speed replied, apparently encouraged by his friend's interest. "His mom's a big time hero over there and wanted him to get a better 'education' or whatever, so he's transferring."

"What grade is he in?" I asked, voice slightly shaky; even as I honed in on their voices, I couldn't help but notice the rushing of the clouds outside the windows. The height was tolerable, but the speed...it was at high speeds like this that anything could happen, anyone could break like a garbage bag, guts spilling out like rotten vegetable soup. My stomach lurched and I must've paled visibly because Speed began talking very quickly.

"Junior I think. He's been going to a school for supers overseas, but it wasn't good enough or something. My mom heard it from some sophomore's mom; she was on the school board," Speed rattled off.

"England's pretty wimpy, he's probably gay as a maypole," Lash said airily, looking highly uninterested at this point.

I had enough wits about me to swallow and admonish him gently, "Not all European people are gay and besides, what's wrong with being gay? Nothing. That's what."

"Whatever," Lash snorted, crossing his arms and glancing out the window; he was clearly not enthused by the fact that someone might be garnering more attention than the three of us. Normally, the school's gossip ring revolved around us three, Will and Warren. Apparently, as much as he disliked girls fantasizing about potential romantic relationships with him, Lash wasn't quite ready to let go of our dark-colored popularity.

We landed at Sky High about a minute after that, a minute which seemed rather long for the incredible speed at which we'd been traveling. I made my way slowly off the bus, enjoying the sight of the impressive school lawn and the large brick building; it brought me joy every single time. Speed and Lash pushed a few passengers brutally out of our way as we hurried out the doors onto the green, both of my friends eager to begin their freshman "entrance ceremony."

Speed and Lash rushed me up to the steps, hoping to look casual and nonplussed when the freshman arrived on their bus, no doubt looking shaky and scared. Even though I almost disapproved of this treatment, my gut was inexplicably bursting with butterflies; why was I so excited all of the sudden?

Before I had time to react to my own confused feelings, Lash hissed predatorily, "Freshmen."

The last bus had, indeed, just made its landing and a few shaken-up kids were stumbling off, kissing solid ground out of sheer relief; I smiled slightly. I remembered that feeling, wondering if you would have to ride that horrid bus every day. Back then, I hadn't any friends to distract me from the fast ride and I'd almost fainted right off. Ron had been scared witless, of course that was part of the fun. That was the very same day I'd looked across the courtyard and seen Speed and Lash; we'd traded waves and awkward smiles.

Perhaps it was remembering this fond moment that prompted me to laugh evilly, "Let's get 'em, boys."

Speed and Lash looked vaguely surprised by my sudden willingness to join in their reindeer games but let out excited yells just the same. Before I could muster another thought, the three of us rose from the steps and made our way ostentatiously down the steps, Speed a mere blur, Lash stretching out in front flips, and me levitating a few feet above the ground. I suddenly realized with a rush of adrenaline why Lash and Speed loved to show off to all the other kids.

As the freshman stared up at us, awed and frightened, I grinned; I was practically on top of the world.

Speed soon encircled the freshman in his typical ring of blurred color while Lash and I looked on, grinning wickedly. When Speed had finally come to a halt beside me, looking exhilarated as the first year students smoothed down their flyaway hairs, Lash began our introductions.

"Hey kids, I'm Lash, this is Speed and this is Animal. We're your welcoming committee here at Sky High, so I think it's time to hand over your entrance fees."

When the freshman only stared blankly at us, some exchanging glances with the others to verify, I found myself growing impatient; these preteens were never going to make it in school if they didn't grow backbones.

"Or maybe you'd rather just hand over your things," I said boldly, focusing on the task at hand and raising my palms slowly to the sky.

Backpacks, messenger bags and even some pocket change began lifting slowly off the frightened children before us, causing chaos amidst the terrified lot of them. Lash and Speed began to laugh hysterically, obviously very impressed and excited to induct me into their bullying troupe. I noticed with some delight that the levitating backpacks had taken some of their owners with them, leaving them dangling in midair. I began to laugh as well.

"Okay, haha, really funny you three," came a familiar voice, light but slightly commanding. "We're your real welcoming committee."

The three of us turned to find Will and Layla descending the steps behind us, looking rather unbothered by our antics. Layla gave me a slightly disapproving glare, though I only winked in return; she rolled her eyes but seemed close to smiling. Lash and Speed held up their hands peaceably, giving the freshmen one final warning glance before we gathered our things and departed. On a normal day, Lash and Speed would've challenged Will to some sort of ego battle, but our objective here had been achieved. The feeling was indescribably wonderful.

"That was sweet!" I cried, punching my fist needlessly into the air as I rounded on my friends. "Why haven't I ever done that before!"

Lash shrugged, still grinning as he ran a hand through his already messy black hair. "Cause you were scared. Awesome, isn't it?"

I nodded enthusiastically and this set off approving exclamations and head ruffles from my two friends, who I appreciated so much at this moment it was almost impossible to put into words. I thought at that particular place in time that there was nothing in the entire world that could separate me from Speed and Lash for they were the only boys I would ever need.

This was, of course, before I laid eyes on _him. _

Though it's impossible to glean from the written word, I looked back upon _him _with a strange mixture of emotions; mostly I look back on his teenage self with intense dislike and exasperation, (he was quite the exasperation back then.) But then that warm feeling spreads from my heat to my feet, the feeling which reminds me how much I'm completely and totally in love with him; it's embarrassing, really, when I realize just how much. When I first saw him, I knew none of these things; I was only attracted to his physical perfection.

Hunter Stone was without a doubt the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen up close. His dark skin and fantastic host of black hair made him look almost wild, as though he could release some animal cry at any moment. He was brooding, tall, the darkest and most wonderful combination of forbidden airs to ever walk the halls of Sky High. He wore nothing but black, almost like Warren, yet something about him was all the more dangerous; he looked as though, behind his stony expression, he was laughing at every single person he saw. His jaw was square and masculine, offsetting the stubble on his chin and the twinkle in his oddly light eyes; they were a light blue, almost like the sky, though I'd expected a more sinister color. He was so fabulously terrible, as though he were an escaped criminal or the leader of a motorcycle gang; perhaps this rebellious air is what first claimed the breath from my throat. I stood in fascination, watching him observe the bulletin board twenty feet down the way.

"Animal? What's wrong with you?" Lash asked persistently, confused by my sudden silence.

After a moment, he and Speed followed my gaze to the newcomer, who caused their own eyes to grow in size. "That guy's fuckin' huge!" Speed exclaimed loudly, aghast at the sight of Hunter Stone.

I noticed then that, during my perusal, I'd failed to notice just _how _tall and large the boy was. "Boy" is a strange word to use about a fellow who stood at 6'4 his junior year in high school, with barrel arms and an enormous sculpted chest to go along with the package; Speed and Lash were only furthering my aesthetic obsession with this strange new person.

"Pretty dark looking; he could give Peace a run for his money," Lash pointed out, shaking his head slightly. "And he's bigger."

But I didn't care about that; all I cared about was the fact that his boy, no, _man, _had turned and was looking right at me. Our eyes locked and I found myself incapable of closing my mouth; I vaguely wondered if I was drooling.

"Looks like he's comin' this way," Speed pointed out needlessly, looking a little confused by it all.

We had little time to think before the newcomer was upon us; he was even bigger up close. Even at my ripe height of 5'10, the top of my head only came up to his chin; I was used to standing practically face to face with everyone I knew. Lash was slightly closer, since he was just over six feet, but even he looked a little intimidated. The boys on either side of me were trying to look tough and failing ever so slightly.

When the enormous boy had stopped before us, staring down at us as though we were of little use to him, he finally spoke. "What are your powers?" His voice was deep, booming, rich; it sent ripples of excitement down my spine and all the way to my core.

"Super speed," the large boy on my right exclaimed proudly, zooming down the hall and back just to prove his point; papers flew this way and that at his needless sample.

"Stretching," Lash replied almost challengingly, providing a show just as Speed had by elongating his arm and stealing a pencil from someone's backpack quite a ways down the hall; he hefted it arrogantly.

When I still hadn't spoken, the beautiful God looked down at me and demanded a second time, "Your power?"

"Telekinesis," I said flatly, trying to keep the awe out of my voice. What was he so interested for?

Without another word or care in the world, the boy reached forward one of his partially gloved hands and gripped my right arm, managing to grasp almost my entire bicep in his enormous fingers. He gripped rather roughly, which caused me to gasp aloud, and Speed and Lash were suddenly no longer afraid.

"Don't touch her!" Speed roared, stepping forward and preparing to punch the boy right in the face.

"Get off!" Lash demanded at the same time, preparing to join his friend in the pulverizing.

They didn't have the chance to being, however, for the boy had released me as though burned by coals. My arm was aching, as though someone had just given me several shots, and I suddenly found his golden haze washing away; now I saw him for what he really was. Before I could stop myself, I reached up my good hand and did the unthinkable.

I slapped Hunter Stone across the face.

Face red with indignation, I narrowed my green eyes distastefully and spat out, "What the hell is your problem?" As my arm gave another throb, I reached over and held it tightly, hoping to stifle the pain at least for now.

The boy was glaring at me with a look so heated it might've set fire to my shoes and welded them to the ground. He focused so intently on my face that I thought for a moment that he might spit at me; I began to realize, after a moment, that he wasn't simply staring at me but observing me, taking me in. He was trying to understand me, looking as curiously at me as he was, and I wasn't helping with my confused emotions. I simply stared at him in return, trying to illicit some sort of response from the giant. His blue eyes just continued to study me as though he were an art student and I his naked model. I felt exposed and strange as he looked, causing me to shift uncomfortably in my clothes. No one had ever looked at me this way before.

When he didn't respond to my question, I tried a second time.

"You just walked up and grabbed my arm and now it hurts! What did you do to me?" I demanded. I was sure he'd sabotaged me in some way and I was going to find out how.

He spoke for the first time now, a deep and resounding sound that practically shook the entire building. "I just absorbed some of your power." His blue eyes were still watching me and his face was carefully blank.

I stared at him for a moment, not clear on his meaning. "What?" I asked a second time, hoping he would clarify.

I never got to hear his second answer, for Lash and Speed were suddenly at my sides again. As Lash wrapped a protective arm around my shoulder and began leading me away, Speed roared, "Stay the fuck away from her!" before charging after us. Several students had stopped to watch the exchange and all exchanged glances at the boys' protective display. Even I was unused to this degree.

As we hurried wordlessly down the hall, Lash's arm still around my shoulder and Speed fuming silently at my side, I began to realize that both of them looked not only angry, but afraid. I found myself touched as I realized why; they'd been afraid for me. Lash wasn't one for protective touching, such as the arm settled stiffly atop my shoulder blades, and Speed was hardly one to retreat from a fight on the defensive as he had just now. In their own special way, Speed and Lash were trying to protect me. It made me slightly happy until I remembered the strange happenings only moments before.

"What was _that?_!" I asked, gaping at my friends. "My arm hurts! What did he do?"

"I have no idea," Lash mumbled as he grabbed my arm and started looking it over. "Look at this! Your arm is starting to bruise!"

And he was right; where the giant's hand had been, there were now faint purple bruises springing to the surface of my pale ivory skin. Though I knew how easily I bruised and scratched, I couldn't help but be indignant all the same; he'd actually left a mark on me!

"That asshole!" I screamed, preparing to launch down the hallway after my assailant.

But Speed held me back firmly, strong arms preventing me from going any farther than Dr.Medulla's classroom a mere three feet away. "Oh no you don't, Animal, you already got a hit in. He might decide to just throw you out the window this time. We'll get him later, okay?"

I growled fiercely, wrenching myself from Speed's grasp as I turned towards Dr.Medulla, who was beckoning me with an indulgent glance from the door of the science lab. He was perhaps my favorite teacher, but he certainly couldn't tolerate lateness. Or stupidity. Perhaps, for these two reasons, he absolutely detested Speed.

Lash turned me around and assured me, "Don't worry. We're gonna go to the gym and watch the placement tests to see what he can do first; I think we might've just met the new transfer student."

"Guess he's not as gay as you thought," I managed to joke, earning a shove from my striped friend.

Reluctantly and with a good deal of grumbling, I reshouldered my bag and entered Dr.Medulla's classroom, preparing for a no doubt long-winded lecture on the pros and cons of harnessing nuclear power to defeat radioactive enemies. Even as I sat in my seat, absently taking notes in my notebook, the only thought occupying my mind was him: Hunter Stone. Though I didn't know his name at the time, he was already making his way into my brain, settling down comfortably for a nice long stay. Even though I had no idea at the time, Hunter Stone would not indeed be my mortal enemy as I was currently supposing. No, he would be quite the opposite.

Hunter Stone would one day be my husband.

!!

It had soon become popular knowledge amongst the most in-tune gossip circles that I had, in a matter of very strange circumstances, slapped some random boy right across his face. How it spread so quickly I'll never know, but suffice it to say that the stares following me down the hallway to lunch were becoming more and more difficult to avoid with each passing minute. Lash and Speed, increasingly wary since the incident, glued themselves to my sides quickly and we walked solidly through the corridors, aiming glares in return at each gawking student.

"Well, I don't think anyone's gonna mess with you now," Speed commented, trying to look on the more positive side.

I only scowled and blushed fiercely, replying, "Well if he hadn't just come up and grabbed me, I never would've hit him! He had no business doing that, he freaked me out!"

"True," Lash agreed, trying to keep his anger under control, "But the guy was huge; hitting was probably not your best option right then, Animal."

"Oh yeah, you're one to lecture me on my angry assault record," I bit out, giving my tall friend a glare. He only growled in response, cuffing me lightly on the side of my face.

As we entered the lunch room in typical triad formation, I noticed a sudden hush sweeping over the room; eyes followed us ceaselessly, trained most specifically on me, and I quailed under the attention. I was most used to people staring at Lash and Speed while I myself was of generally no interest to anyone. Now it seemed that I was of interest to anyone with eyes, including one Warren Peace. He was staring at me so heatedly, no pun intended, that I nearly turned to exit the lunchroom; only Speed's firm hand on my elbow prevented me from doing so.

"Don't do that, Animal," he said lowly, cocking an eyebrow at me. "Just ignore 'em."

Clearly, he was unaware that Warren Peace was staring me down; Speed was attributing my nervousness to the other hundreds of eyes.

I just laughed uneasily. "Yeah, no big." Where was my courage from the morning? I'd taken down those freshmen so easily! And now...now I was just plain old Mackenzie again. I hardly deserved the name "Animal" anymore. I was more like a cowering amoeba.

The three of us made our way through the lunch line, Speed and Lash piling enough food on their plates to feed an army twice our size; I indulgently picked up a hamburger, though I knew the chances of me eating it were slim to none. As we took a seat at our table, the one we'd sat at since the first day of my freshman year, I saw him for the second time. The dark-haired giant from before was making his way down the rows of tables towards the one and only Warren Peace. The two stared at one another for a long while, as though sizing up their potential opponent; finally, the giant took a seat across from Warren and the two continued eating in silence.

"Did you see that?" Speed asked, aghast. "He sat with Peace! The guy's got a death wish!"

"Yeah, Peace doesn't look like he cared," Lash pointed out, sounding almost bitter.

The three of us watched for a moment, as though expecting the two mysterious characters to break out into song and dance, though the silent eating continued. I finally found it in me to look away and I stared down at my hamburger, trying to muster up an appetite; it still wasn't coming.

"Mackenzie?"

I glanced up to find Layla standing before our table, looking at me expectantly; she was studiously ignoring Speed and Lash, who likewise ignored her back by continuing to watch Warren Peace entertaining the giant boy at his lunch table.

"Yes?" I asked hesitantly; Layla looked worried.

She wrung her pale hands slightly as she asked, "Did you really slap someone? Like, actually slap? Because Zach said he saw you-"

"No, yeah, I did," I mumbled, pushing my tray towards the center of the table; I couldn't even look at it anymore.

"Who?" Layla demanded, eyebrows creased. She was obviously as surprised as I had been.

I just shrugged and replied dolefully, "Some weird exchange student. He just came up and grabbed my arm and started...I dunno, he just held it for a while! It was weird! So I slapped him!" My voice became slightly heated near the end and I trailed off, cheeks burning brightly.

Layla regarded me for a moment, looking pretty and confused, before she finally realized aloud, "Oh, you mean Hunter!"

I stared at the girl, taking in her slightly relieved and simultaneously concerned glance; I rolled the new name around in my mouth, muttering, "Hunter," in a dull tone. The "H" was soft in my cheeks and then the "unter" hit. I recalled briefly that I'd known a Hunter back in preschool, an angry little blonde boy who'd made me sit on a swing set while he pelted me with sand balls. I lowered my eyebrows dangerously; I didn't like this Hunter character already.

"If you're talking about _him,_" I replied, narrowing my eyes as I spit out "him" in an acidic tone, "Then yes." I pointed towards the hulking back of the boy at Warren's table.

Layla followed my glance and replied warily, "Yeah, that's Hunter Stone. He's new this year...he was actually in my History of Heroism class this morning. He's pretty smart."

"Then how come he walked up to me and grabbed my arm like some weird pervert?" I demanded, seething over the fact that Layla seemed so unperturbed by this news.

The redhead bit her lip and replied carefully, "It has to do with his powers, I think. He's an absorber."

I silently wondered after this word before I finally asked dumbly, "Absorber?"

By this time, Speed and Lash had turned away from their eye-stalking and had begun listening in on our conversation. Though they didn't particularly like Layla, who was much too goody-two-shoes for them, they seemed willing enough to use her for information on this enormous new threat. When Layla said the word "absorber," Speed adopted an incredibly suspicious expression.

"That's not even a real word," he said with a certain air of finality.

Lash rolled his eyes and whacked his friend on the back of his fat head, earning himself an irritated "ow!" as Speed rubbed his neck ruefully. I ignored them and only pressed Layla urgently, "What is an 'absorber?'"

Layla explained with her typical hand gestures and eye movements. "Well, an absorber is someone who can just touch someone with powers and absorb their powers right from their body." This fascinated me and it must've shown on my face because Layla continued with a bit more eagerness. "There's a catch, though. They can only hold one power at a time and when they touch another super, the power from before just goes away."

"So he doesn't have his _own _power?" Lash asked, sounding amused and arrogant over the fact.

"Nope," Layla replied, flushing slightly; she always looked slightly frightened by my two friends and I saved her quickly.

"So what you're saying is that he was absorbing my powers this morning when he touched me like that?" I asked quietly. I wasn't sure how I felt about it all; these powers were mine, not Hunter Stone's. I'd worked for a while now to develop them into something and here he was, simply taking my hard work and absorbing it through his fingertips. It seemed like a shortcut to me. Though this did mean that his strange comment from that morning was finally beginning to make sense.

Layla watched my expression grow dark and she stuttered out, "I guess so. He passed his placement test this morning, so he must've borrowed from someone. You, I guess."

I thought about Hunter Stone taking my power and entering the hero class without so much as breaking a sweat. I thought of him sitting next to Will, who had gone through hell as a powerless descendant before the middle of his freshman year. I thought of him in the same room as Layla, who hadn't made it into the hero class until her sophomore year when she finally squashed some of her fighting fears. I thought of him sitting near so many others who'd worked tirelessly just to get themselves to a certain point...and he hadn't done a lick of work. Not a lick. He'd taken _mine._

Layla muttered a quick goodbye and hurried away from the table for a reason I couldn't quite discern at the moment. I would realize later that my expression had terrified her; I must've looked positively livid. Speed and Lash were unused to seeing me angry, though they'd witnessed the catastrophe a few times before. When my arrows narrowed and my lips grew tight, the two of them exchanged a cautious glance and immediately began trying to talk sense into me. The role reversal would've been funny, had I been paying attention.

"Animal, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't," Lash warned me, trying to sound imperial.

Speed agreed quickly, "Yeah, remember how big that guy is? I mean, so he borrowed your powers for a minute, he just needed to pass the placement test..."

I could tell from the strange tones in their voices that neither of them believed their own protests. The idea of having their powers stolen was irritating them just as much as actually having mine stolen was grating on me; they were _mine, _damnit, and no one else's. It wasn't the telekinesis that mattered to me, however, but the other power; what if he'd tried to summon Phinnaeus? That tiger, however much it disliked me, was my spirit animal and no one else's. Phinnaeus was a reflection of myself and we shared a link, one that I couldn't describe. By summoning Phinnaeus, that enormous stranger would have an insight into me that no one else in the entire world had or deserved. I couldn't let it happen.

Without another word, I stood from the table so violently that my tray almost clattered to the floor; Speed caught it just in time, but his momentary distraction allowed me to storm away from the table, a fire in my step. I knew before Lash attempted it that he would stretch his arms after me; when his hands arrived, I only slapped them away, used to his tricks. No one would stop me from teaching this Hunter Stone a lesson.

Speed caught up with me quickly, talking at such a pace that, had I been listening, I wouldn't have understood a word. Lash was on my other side in a moment, whispering more rational protests in my ear. Being boys, Speed and Lash put a lot of stock in the size of a person; even with their superior powers, they feared Hunter Stone because he was so enormous. I, being a girl, knew that size had little to do with the outcome of a fight. I could throw Hunter Stone against a wall and break every bone in his body if I chose; this alone fueled me as I stormed towards him.

Warren saw us coming and fixed us with a glare so legendary that I remember it still to this day. Those dark eyes of his conveyed disdain, exasperation, and perhaps a little amusement. He cleared his throat, as though alerting his enormous table mate that he had visitors. The dark haired boy glanced over his shoulder and noticed us for the first time; he stood, reminding me just how tall 6'4 looked in person.

He seemed to think that his size would stifle me, though I only set my jaw and tried to ignore his handsomeness as I began my tirade.

"Listen up, you; my powers are mine and mine alone, not yours! You can't just borrow someone's powers without asking them! It's stealing! Just because you're bigger than everyone else doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want. Maybe no one else will stand up to you, but I will! If you ever, _ever, _touch me again, I will crush every bone in you body to dust and throw it off this island! Do you understand me?! Your bone dust will pelt innocent birds and I'll laugh at it, laugh my ass of! I hope I've made myself perfectly clear, bucko. Touch me and _die!"_

When I finally finished my rant, I realized just how loud I'd become; I was breathing rather hard and the lunch room had become rather silent. Speed and Lash both looked incredibly surprised by my gaul and couldn't seem to choose between being aghast and impressed. Warren was shaking his head sadly, pinching the bridge of his nose; I was just another irritation to him. It was Hunter Stone's expression that I truly remember; he was regarding me with a mixture of confusion and awe, a look which made his handsome, rugged face look almost innocent, almost youthful, if not for the stubble shadowing his chin. His blue eyes were confused but still so dark. As though he could never get past the darkness which consumed him even then.

I realized then that Will and Zach, the glowing junior, had just appeared behind me to back me up, no doubt on Layla's insistence. Lash and Speed were insulted by this encroachment but said nothing, deciding only to glare at these new comers. I was still staring fiercely up at the dark giant, awaiting his response.

"As you wish," the boy said finally, voice deep and rumbling as I remembered from that morning. "I didn't mean to offend." And without so much as another word, he retook his seat and continued eating his hamburger.

I blinked; for some reason, I'd been expecting some sort of protest. When I encountered none, I cleared my throat awkwardly and murmured, "Right, well, take that," before whirling on my heels and storming out of the cafeteria. Lash would tell me years later than I only narrowly missed Hunter's faint smile.

9191919

I found myself on the roof of the main building, hair blustering about as the high-atmosphere wind gusts picked it up and threw it about. I was hugging my knees to my chest, staring narrow-eyed down at the school below me. Though I was able to fly myself now, I'd snuck up through the janitors closet passage-way just like Speed and Lash had once taught me anyway; when I needed time to think, this was the place.

The port-hole door behind me opened before I could really get a good train of thought going; Lash and Speed had already caught up with me, as usual.

I could almost imagine what they were doing behind me; they were exchanging a glance now, Speed looking reluctant and Lash urging him forward. Speed probably attempted a protest, but Lash silenced him with a glare; it was just what they would do, I thought.

"That was pretty daring," Lash commented as he took a seat on my right, joining me as I looked down on the lawn.

Speed plopped down on my left, exhaling slowly. "You're lucky to still have all your limbs, Animal."

I only continued to scowl as they scolded me. "I was mad," I replied, voice muffled into my knees.

The three of us were silent for a while as I seethed quietly and my friends mused over my social stupidity. When Speed finally reached over and ruffled my hair, I felt a strange peacefulness surround me; they were forgiving me for my dumbness, though I'd known they would. I would never do anything so heinous that I thought it would damage the relationship I had with Speed and Lash; they were by far the most important part of my life.

"You're just goin' nuts," Speed commented, laughing slightly. "Fucking with the freshman, slapping that guy across the face, telling him off in the lunch room right in front of Peace and everything...you're takin' after us."

I rolled my eyes as Speed laughed and Lash chuckled, "Please don't; just me and Speed is bad enough. Who's gonna keep us from doing stupid shit when you're right there with us?"

I laughed slightly, though my heart wasn't truly in it; I still couldn't help but wonder if Hunter had attempted to summon Phinnaeus. Did he even know I had the ability to do such a thing? I hadn't mentioned it when he asked, but did he have some sort of detecting mechanism? Had Phinnaeus responded to him? What if my tiger liked Hunter Stone more than me? But say he hadn't summoned my spirit animal; did he still have my power, or had he touched someone else already? My head was abuzz with worries and questions, each more unanswerable than the next.

"C'mon, Animal, you got class," Speed said finally, nudging me as though trying to make me stand.

"I don't understand why I have to go to class when you two don't," I grumbled, brushing off my backside as I stood and turned to go.

"Cause we're too smart for class," Lash called in reply, laughing carelessly. Speed joined in and I couldn't help but smile as I made my way down the strange ladder and began climbing down the rickety steps towards the janitor's closet door. My friends remained on the roof, no doubt preparing to sleep away their next period class. Sometimes it irritated me how cavalier they were about school, but it bothered me less and less these days.

As I stepped down into the janitor's closet, I found myself shrouded in darkness; Lash and Speed hadn't left the light on. Scowling, I dropped down to the ground and attempted to make my way through the buckets and brooms towards the door. As I opened the door, however, I got my foot caught on a rolling bucket and fell with a "smack" on the linoleum of the hallway. It was only then that I noticed how much my arm really hurt from the morning's encounter; the bruises were becoming more prominent by the moment. I was just standing awkwardly to my feet when an enormous meat-slab hand appeared before me.

I followed the hand up a black-clad arm to a muscular shoulder, which dissolved into a masculine neck and finally met a stubbled chin and curious blue eyes. It was him, Hunter Stone.

I was about to pull a Lash and slap the hand away, muttering a few choice words in what I considered "Speed language," when I remembered who I was: I wasn't Lash or Speed, I was Mackenzie "Animal" Macharyas, a big softie with very little ability to hold grudges. It was this thought alone which prompted me to take Hunter Stone's hand.

"Thanks," I muttered ruefully, finding myself drug up in a smooth and delicate way. He was obviously quite strong, handling me as though I weighed nothing; his hands were sinewy and calloused against my pale, thin ones.

"My pleasure," he replied blankly.

I looked up to meet his eyes, which seemed just as fascinated by mine, and I finally found my words. "About the lunch room, I didn't mean to-"

"No, you're absolutely right. Taking without asking is inexcusable," the boy interrupted me, nodding curtly as thought agreeing with my list of grievances.

For the first time, he spoke more than four words together and I finally heard that lilting undertone, the slightest accent which denoted a European upbringing of some sort. It was only faintly British, so slight that it barely ruffled me, but I finally heard it; apparently, I was face to face with Speed's exchange student from the morning bus ride.

He was being incredibly polite, which I chalked up to an upbringing in England. Despite my valiant attempt, I blushed slightly. "It would be better if you asked, yes. I just don't want anyone to sum- er, I don't want you to get confused by my tig-, er, my powers are a little more complicated than they seem." This was all sounding a lot less volatile when I explained it in true Mackenzie speak.

Hunter Stone made an "ah" with his mouth and said quietly, "The spirit animal; I didn't summon it, if that's what you're getting at. I wouldn't dare; it might try to eat me alive."

Apparently that mechanism thought I'd been toying with on the roof wasn't far from the truth. I took it in stride and replied shyly, "That, right. That's what I mean. Just...to be careful." What I really meant, however, was that it still stung to think that anyone could use my powers but me. They were mine. Mine alone. I don't know what inspired such a protectiveness in me, but Lash and Speed seemed to have it too. Our powers were such a part of us now that we were unused to sharing. I didn't want to share at all.

After a moment, during which I swear the boy's blue eyes could see right through me, he bowed his head slightly and said, "My name is Hunter Stone."

"Mackenzie Macharyas," I replied, inclining my head as well; it struck me how proper he was, British or not.

"A pleasure," he replied at once. We continued to stare at each other for a few more moments before Hunter continued awkwardly, "I won't absorb your powers again, Mackenzie, in keeping with your request. I would also like to thank you for this morning; your powers helped me through the placement exam." After he said this, he drew back, as though afraid this news would make me more angry than accepting.

It did make me angry, but I curbed it back a second time. "No problem," I ground out, staring down at my feet. I reached my left hand over to grip my right arm fretfully, a stance which I'd taken to adopting whenever I felt awkward or out-of-place. I unfortunately touched the dark bruises there and winced, letting my hand drop. I hoped Hunter hadn't seen but he apparently had.

His face tightened as he stared at my arm, where the imprints of his fingertips remained. He didn't speak for a long while and finally managed to get out, "I'm so sorry. I never meant to leave such a...I didn't think I was gripping so hard...I'm sorry. Please excuse me." And without another word, the mysterious Hunter Stone inclined his head a second time and then took off down the hallway, long strides carrying him quickly around the corner.

I watched him go, even more confused than before; I'd been prepared to let myself hate this boy, to despise him for being what he was; a thief. But as I watched Hunter Stone retreat down the deserted hallway, head down and fists clenched, I couldn't help but feel slightly compassionate. He'd obviously been so affected by the sight of the bruises he'd inflicted that he'd fled, unable to deal with the thought of harming me. I bit my lip and glanced around, as though wondering if anyone else had seen; unfortunately, there was no one around.

"I'll never believe myself later," I murmured to no one in particular, glancing up at the clock and hurrying to my next class; I was late.

9191919

**Yay! I PROMISE it won't get so focused on OCXOC that you don't see Speed and Lash, I swear it to my grave. I just need conflict and in high school, romance is a good bet for conflict. Thanks for reading and reviews are awesome!**

**KOLU**


	4. Burnin' Up

**Hey, sorry it's been a while; Lubbock called me. My beta isn't around, but I know people want the chapter and I'm done with waiting to post it, so here you go. Nice and long. Sorry about the wait again. **

**9191919**

**Recap: The first day of school comes along and Mackenzie (Animal) bullies the freshman with Speed and Lash. The new British exchange student Hunter Stone comes along and absorbs Mackenzie's powers, angering the trio and sending them all away upset. Mackenzie tells Hunter off in the lunch room but then makes up with him in the hallway, unbeknownst to her two best friends. **

**9191919**

The boys and I hurried to Lash's house from the busstop, all three of us fueled by a strange, urgent feeling; I was debating the pros and cons of sharing my Hunter Stone experience with Lash and Speed while they seemed to be harboring secrets of their own. When we finally entered the Gregorios household, which smelled vaguely of beauty shop products and lamb meat, our bags were on the kitchen floor in an instant. The oreos were out before I could even utter a word.

The three of us performed a strange tango as we ate and, as per usual, we split the oreos amongst ourselves; Speed and Lash would each take one cookie while I nibbled away at the icing pattie inside. This was hardly the strange part, however; the oddness of our eating habits paled in comparison to the way we continually looked up at one another, meeting eyes for a moment before looking suddenly away. It was a tense situation, made worse by our silence; we began chewing with a strange renewed vigor just to avoid conversation. I was unused to the three of us hiding anything from the other two; it made my stomach feel weird. I noticed halfway through the meal that Speed's right arm was hidden rather conspicuously underneath the table, though I said nothing still.

Our awkwardness was broken only by an inevitable human mistake: Lash bit his tongue.

"Sonofabitch!" the boy hissed out, standing to his feet with his hands clasped over his mouth; Speed and I both jumped at the noise.

As Lash spit a bit of blood into the kitchen sink, I sighed. "Okay, this is stupid; I want to tell you guys something."

"Us too," Speed confessed, rubbing the back of his thick neck embarrassedly as Lash returned to the table with an ice cube in his mouth.

"You first," Lash said in a muffled tone, glaring at me through a curtain of dark hair.

I nodded haphazardly, most likely looking quite nervous, before I finally managed to get out, "Well, when I went back downstairs from the roof, Hunter was kind of there and we had a...discussion."

Whatever the boys were thinking of apparently lost all meaning in that moment; their faces morphed from apprehensive into suspicious in mere seconds. They exchanged an almost irritated glance before returning their eyes to me. "What kinda discussion?" Speed asked, dislike unmistakeable in his tone.

I shrugged my freckled arms, blushing a bit under their scrutiny. "Um, well, the kind where he apolozied and I forgave him? I guess? It was kind of weird and he ended up leaving really suddenly...it's hard to explain." I only realized just then how odd my story sounded and I blushed even harder.

Speed raised an eyebrow at my tale while Lash only looked mildly pissed off. "You...talked to Stone?" Speed reitterated.

I narrowed my eyes, replying caustically, "Pretty sure that's what I just said, dude." I wasn't quite sure what was inspiring this sudden defensiveness in me, since I had already prepared myself for some kind of unkind reaction from my friends; they had a tendency to look down on anyone that wasn't...well, me. But they didn't even know Hunter Stone; true, he'd come up and offensively grabbed my arm, but he'd apologized, hadn't he? What were they so peeved for?

"I'm surprised he didn't grab you by the neck this time," Lash practically spat, leaning back in his chair with his feet rudely propped on the table; he was looking away from me, apparently too mad to meet my confused stare.

"Oh, c'mon, he didn't seem that dangerous," I protested weakly, losing some of my indignant rage; of all the people to say this about, Hunter Stone might actually be the last. No matter how polite he'd been during our hallway meeting, he still had a dark edge to him, one that frightened me.

"You wouldn't say that if you'd seen him during sixth period," Lash rallied, crossing his arms violently like a petulant child; I thought for a moment that he might fall backwards in his chair, yet he managed to keep his balance.

I furrowed my brow and turned to Speed, who was still rather silent. His eyes were downcast and his expression concentrated; it was quite unlike him.

"Speed?" I questioned tentatively. "What happened during sixth period?"

The boy shrugged unconvincingly and shifted his massive shoulders, a motion which upset his hidden right arm beneath the table; I saw him wince.

"Are you okay?" I asked after a moment.

He glanced up almost feverishly, as though he were a wild criminal suddenly caught by the police for carrying contraband. He glanced sideways at Lash, as though begging for help, but Lash was far too caught up in his own irritation to give his best friend any sort of assistance. I stared at the two boys, my patience wearing thin; though I loved most things about my best friends, their most annoying traits were currently on display. Speed was frantically trying to find his way out of things, afraid to take responsibility as usual, while Lash continued to brood like a five year old child, unwilling to work out our problems with words and instead settling for haughty silence. Between me trying to make peace, Speed making excuses, and Lash not making anything at all, we were currently caught up in one of our ridiculous disagreements. There was almost no way out.

"Speed," I said again, trying to keep my tone even as I stared at him across the table.

After a moment of nervous glances, the big boy sighed heavily and held up his arm for me to see; I stared, aghast. The flesh of his forearm was a scalding red where blisters were already beginning to form; he looked as though he'd been on the wrong end of Warren's fireballs. I wondered how this could've all happened without my knowledge when I remembered perhaps the most annoying thing about my relationship with Lash and Speed: I faithfully attended classes while they opted to sleep through them. Obviously, they'd been involved in some kind of sixth period altercation with Warren Peace.

"Holy shit," I hissed softly, standing quickly to my feet and hurrying over to examine Speed's arm. Even though I knew little about first aid, it seemed like a good idea to stare at the injury the way people did in the movies. Maybe I would see something helpful?

"It's not that bad, Animal," Speed whined as a blush crept up on his chubby cheeks; he obviously hated even Lash and I seeing this kind of weakness from him.

I stared vehemently up at Speed, trying to hide the fear in my eyes; I wasn't the brave girl from the Terminator movies or anything like that. It scared me to see my friends hurt, especially when I wasn't stout enough to do anything about it. Speed seemed to see this and the protests died in his throat, leaving some kind of dry whine.

"What kind of idiot picks a fight with Warren Peace?" I demanded, forgetting any of Lash's previous comments about Hunter Stone; there was no other explanation for Speed's badly burnt arm. "Honestly, you two are unbelievable!" I was actually angry at this point, which was quite the new feeling for me.

"Oh, _we're_ unbelievable?" Lash countered, broken from his brooding stupor by my inflammatory remarks. "You were right there with us picking fights with freshman this morning! What a fucking hypocrite!"

"It's not picking a fight when you know the other person isn't going to fight back!" I reponded hottly, stung by Lash's cursing; it always had that effect on me. "That's called bullying and it's totally different, you should know!"

"What, so one's better than the other? How do you know so much about it anyway? It's not like you ever tried before this morning because you're such a coward!" Lash practically screamed in my face, his dark eyes glimmering like granite as he let the anger consume him; I knew he didn't mean the sentiment behind those things, but I still couldn't help but look a little stunned by the insult. It was rare that Speed or Lash ever took a rough tone with me and I'd apparently become too accustomed to my one-sided, self-righteous fights. I suppose when I'd yelled at them before, they'd actually had things to say in return and had simply been holding their tongues; Lash's recently bitten tongue was no longer on hold.

Speed growled low in his throat and ripped his arm away from my tender grasp, standing up to level with Lash and I; he knew it was getting out of hand. "Dick move, Lash, cut it out. And Animal, we can get in fights if we want to; it wasn't like we didn't have a reason."

At the unusually rational quality of Speed's voice, Lash and I began to simmer and exchanged one last heated glance before staring down dumbly at the table; we couldn't look at each other out of anger and the shame in Speed's face was simply too much. When he seemed satisfied with our presence of mind, Speed sighed like an old judge and retook his seat, watching with a careful eye as Lash and I did the same.

"We didn't pick a fight with Peace," the big boy told me honestly, mouth tightening. "We actually didn't pick a fight with anybody; it was Stone."

At the name, I furrowed my brow, brushing a stray red curl behind my ear; Hunter Stone? I could hardly imagine the mild mannered British boy I'd spoken to that afternoon picking a fight with anyone, let alone two petty bullies. He _did _sort of seem like someone who would champion the less fortunate, though. Maybe he'd caught my two friends bullying a younger student?

"What did you do," I demanded flatly, no doubt scolding them self-righteously again; I always ended up doing that, no matter how it all started.

Lash snorted contemptuously, spitting out, "We didn't do anything, it was all him! We were just doing your sorry ass a favor by telling him to stay the hell away from you and he acted like we were trying to fight some kinda duel; he borrowed Peace's powers and we had it out with him."

I blinked at this information and leaned back in my chair, physically and emotionally exhausted by the entire conversation. "You're both crazy. A guy that size, and with powers like _that?!"_

"And what the hell are we, preschoolers?" Lash fired back, already looking angry again. "We woulda finished him off if Stronghold hadn't gotten his big nose in our business!"

Closing my eyes fretfully, I blew out a stream of air and murmured, "It's not like I don't have faith in you, you _know _that. You're practically the best fighters in the school, whatever. It's just that my problems with Hunter Stone were exactly that; _my _problems. Can't I handle them myself?"

"Oh yeah, that would work out," Lash interrupted, cutting off Speed, who looked as though he were about to placate me. The thin boy continued, "Like I said before, you're a coward who's too chicken shit to stand up for yourself, so leaving you to deal with someone like Stone woulda been a real great idea." His voice was dripping with sarcasm and disdain, in typical Lash fashion, but I'd never actually had it directed at me before; it hurt a little more than I was expecting.

My pause was only momentary and, before Speed could cut in with words of his own, I mumbled, "Put some Neosporin on you're arm or something, buddy, it looks pretty bad. I need to go home and do some homework. Later." And with this, I collected my bags and practically jogged out the door, desperate to be away from my friends if only for a little while.

As I exited the house, Lash's beautiful sister Athena arrived at the curb in a shining red convertible, waving goodbye to her friends from the danceteam as she made her way towards the porch. She was talking animatedly on the phone, clicking her nails in the way I despised, as she ignored me and mentioned into the phone receiver, "Did you see that guy at school today, Hunter something? Man, what a stud. I think Chloe and Penny were going to try to get him to that party at Amanda Reynold's house, but I don't know yet. Uhuh. Yeah. I know, right?"

The girl brushed past me without even glancing up, disappearing into the house with the cell phone still glued to her ear. I scowled at the conversation I'd overheard and began slumping dejectedly towards my house; not only had Hunter Stone ruined my entire day, but perhaps my entire year. What if things with Lash and Speed were always tense because of him? What if it never went back to normal? With these thoughts plaguing me, I quickly entered my house and immersed myself in History homework. At least I was still good at one thing: studying. Boring Mackenzie, alone again; somehow, it wasn't surprising.

9191919

That night I lay awake reflecting on my day; for some reason, my fight with Speed and Lash just couldn't make it to the forefront. All I could think about, mysteriously enough, was Hunter Stone; he was handsome, abnormally polite when he wasn't bruising my bicep, and quite smart with his powers...sort of. I mean, the boy had managed to make friends right off with Warren Peace; he had to have some kind of merit.

It was eleven thirty when the knock at my window came. I turned to find Lash's unreadable face on the opposite side of the pane, hand in mid tap and legs stretched to the second floor. It was hardly unusual for me to receive a midnight visit from either boys, sometimes both, though I knew this would be a little different than the other late-night chats. If I knew Lash, he was coming round to apologize.

I threw back the covers and hurriedly unlatched my window, swinging it open to let him inside; he stretched elegantly over the sill and landed like a graceful cat on the rug, staring balefully up at me through his typical black curtain of hair. He eventually straightened, allowing his shoulders to slump back down momentarily as he placed his clenched fists in his pockets; he opened his mouth several times to get the apology out, though he seemed incapable.

Eventually, I glanced down at my nervously twisted hands and murmured, "Sorry about the way I was this afternoon; it's none of my business what you guys do or anything like that and I know you were only trying to hel-"

"Jesus Christ, Animal!" Lash moaned, clapping his hands to his head in despair. "What the hell are you doing? This is so typical. I should be the one apologizing and there you go with that whole...nice thing you do. Stop it. You shouldn't just let me walk all over you like that."

I stared at the boy, eventually crossing my arms over my ratty t-shirt with an embarrassed sort of look on my face. "Yeah, I know; I just...I have a soft spot for you and Speed."

"You have a soft spot for the whole world," Lash replied quietly, taking a seat on the edge of my bed and looking up at me, eyes deep with guilt. "That's why we went after Stone, cause we didn't think you would. We didn't know you'd talked to him...we wouldn't have...okay, maybe we would've...what I mean is...damnit..."

The boy made a restless motion with his hands, obviously running dry on words. I couldn't help but smile peaceably; apology was a difficult thing for Lash and I understood the sentiment. "It's okay, Lash, I forgive you." I padded over and took a seat beside him, patting his back reassuringly. "I know what you're trying to say, no worries."

Lash chuckled nervously, grinning helplessly at me. "I know you know, I just had to say something." He sobered suddenly and murmurd, "You're not a coward, you know. You never have been, you just...don't always stick up for yourself. I mean next year Speed and I won't be there."

At this I pursed my lips; of course I knew it was their senior year and that this was, technically, the end of the Terrible Trio. I didn't like to think about it, as it made me feel so many emotions I became unsure of myself whenever I did, but Lash seemed determined to bring up the dreaded subject. I took in a shaky breath and muttered, "Yeah, I know. I do. I just don't want to spend the whole year thinking 'oh, this is the end' and miss out on it. You know?"

"Yeah, I know," he offered in return, standing slowly to his feet and grinning down at me. "We'll still give 'em hell this year, no worries."

I nodded, musteirng a small smile. "I know we will. Is Speed okay and everything? I was gonna help him with his arm but then I sort of just left..." I trailed off, not wanting to bring up the awkwardness of our previous moment.

Lash looked a little unsettled by this subject as well. "Uh, yeah. He's good, I guess; I left after you did cause Speed was yelling at me and it was annoying."

I snorted with laughter; good old Speed, giving Lash hell for me. "I hope he took care of himself," I mentioned menially. "It's not like he was going to show his mom, she'd flip."

"No shit," Lash agreed, wincing at the thought of Speed's beautiful but frightening mother. "We're getting him up tomorrow so we'll check on it then; the big guy heals fast, I don't think we have anything to worry about."

I nodded slightly, watching as Lash crept up on the sill and gave me one last parting wave. "See you tomorrow, Animal," he said quietly. "And thanks." With this, he stretched out the window and landed softly on the ground below; his retreating footsteps clapped on the concrete as he entered his house across the street.

I sighed to myself and laid back on the bed, staring at the moonlight fltering in through my window; I was a terrible person. I didn't stand up for myself, I didn't help my friends when their arms were covered in heat blisters, and I didn't fulfill my father's dreams by producing a competent spirit animal. But all of this paled in comparison to that one little fact, the one I'd kept tucked away during my apologies with Lash.

The one little fact where I thought of Hunter Stone the entire time my best friend was apologizing to me. The one little fact where Hunter Stone interested me more than even my surrogate brothers.

You know, the one where I was just a terrible person.

9191919

The next day was a strange one. Lash and I roused Speed from a deep slumber around seven-thirty and, as Lash had suspected, Speed's arm was recovering nicely. Though things were stilted and awkward between all of us at first, it gradually calmed until we'd slipped right back into our old routine. I hadn't actually worried about this, however. I was more worried about facing a certain beautiful Brit concerning his quick retreat the day before. I'd alleviated Lash's guilt and now it was time to attack someone even more unpenetrable.

We arrived at the Sky High island with thirty minutes until the bell, a personal record for Ron Wilson, bus driver. Lash and Speed spied a few freshman girls cowering in the corner of the lawn and quickly went to give them a little fright, hurrying off without me when I declined their invitation to join them. Left to my own devices, I scanned the great schoolyard for two dark looking characters and found them quickly; Warren and Hunter were sitting beneath one of the large oak trees, exchanging scant words. I set my jaw and decided it was now or never; I was currently wearing my Tuesdays, which consisted of a nice royal blue dress with a sky blue ribbon at the empire waist. It was what I considered my "sexy" outfit, though there was really nothing sexual about it. In my Tuesdays, I would conquer.

My trip across the lawn was much shorter than I would've liked; I hadn't exactly formed my words yet and I wasn't sure what to say to the handsome boy. My feet betrayed me, however, and landed me right in front of Hunter Stone, who seemed to follow my legs up to my face with a look of incredulity in his startling blue eyes.

I reshouldered my bag nervously, stifling my desire to glance sheepishly down at my feet. Warren was watching me with dark amusement.

"Hi," I said lamely, finding myself unable to greet him with anything more.

Hunter nodded his dark head with mild confusion on his features. When I realized he was waiting for me to continue, I cleared my throat and asked meekly, "Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?" When Warren raised an eyebrow, I hurriedly mentioned, "Sorry Warren, it's just about what happened yesterday and...sorry."

The fire-bringer shrugged and made a sarcastic motion with one sweeping hand, as though to say, "take him away." Hunter stood to his feet, unfolding to the glorious height I remembered from the previous day and followed me to a more remote part of the yard. Several pairs of eyes followed us, whispering about the two supposed enemies from the day before escaping for some alone time, and I forced myself to swallow a blush. I would get to the bottom of this whole strange thing between me and Hunter Stone if it was the last thing I did. It had kept me up all night and I wouldn't allow it to affect me this way. Be strong like Speed always told you; strong!

"Sorry to drag you away. I just wanted to make sure we were cool," I said with a slight laugh, cocking my head slightly to look at him.

His handsome features were contorted in a slight frown and his brow was knitted thoughtfully. Those glass-cutting cheek bones of his made him look almost picturesque as his eyes made their way casually over my arm; he was checking for signs of our altercation the day before. The bruises were slightly yellow now, apparently on their way out, and I followed his gaze to observe them; he hadn't gripped me _that _hard in the first place.

"Your arm," he stated almost grimly, his deep voice practically shaking the ground.

I put on a large smile and replied, "Oh, don't worry about that or anything. I bruise easily, it's an Irish thing. Don't even think twice about it, okay?"

He stared down at me, but it wasn't piercing like Lash's or playful like Speed's. It was a different sort of stare, a softer one, the kind where he held my attention with just his eyes but managed to look like he was ready to hug me as well. I felt so drawn to that stare, like he was the only one in the world that could hug me just right; it was honestly the strangest feeling I've ever endured and my highschool self practically melted into a puddle on the floor.

"I'm sorry to have hurt you," he practically mourned, mouth making an upset line as he apologized. "It was inexcusable. So sorry."

I immediately insisted, "No, it's fine. I'm glad we're talking about it, I wouldn't want you to feel guilty. I'm accident prone like crazy, falling all over the place, getting cut, getting bruised. Honestly, it could've happened with anyone." I was smiling brightly again, that terrible habit of mine that Lash had cautioned me about last night; I truly did have a soft spot for the world and this boy was getting a fair share of it.

"If you insist," he answered unsurely, smiling in return as though my happiness had coaxed him out of a funk. "Peace told me I had nothing to worry about; I suppose I should've listened."

I furrowed my brow. "Warren said that? How would Warren know?" I caught myself then and hurriedly corrected, "Not that Warren isn't a great guy or anything, just that we never really talk and I didn't think he liked me. You talked about this all?"

"He's not bad when you get to know him," Hunter insisted, shrugging as he placed his hands in his jean pocket. He was becoming slowly more casual as we talked and I was starting to like it. "A little gruff, but it's not too terrible. He said you were quite nice despite your friends..." When he trailed off, I could see he was worried about offending me.

I barked a short laugh, assuring him, "Don't worry about Speed and Lash, I know they can be huge assholes." I stopped short, wondering if my cussing had offended him right back; it still offended some young people, right?

Yet Hunter laughed, a deep, gratifying sound that made me want to be hilariously funny for the rest of my life. "We got into it yesterday, nothing dire," he assured me, shrugging again; it looked like an enormous mountain sighing when his shoulders did that. "They're really fond of you, you know. Good men."

Hearing Speed and Lash referred to as "men" made me laugh slightly; watching them play Halo while shoving Doritos in their mouths had sort of stifled any "man" images which might've come into my mind. "Yeah, they are," I agreed nonetheless. Hunter Stone was now smiling, a look which somehow improved even the dark beauty of his already gorgeous face. Not only was I now dedicated to making him laugh, I also wanted him to smile perpetually. It was a very strange mixture of desires.

There was an awkward silence where neither of us could think fast enough to fill. I gave in to the overwhelming desire to look down while Hunter satisfied his nervousness by placing his hands in his pockets and shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet. Only when Warren cleared his throat loudly did the two of us finally snap back into action like wind-up dolls.

We spoke at the same time.

"If you need any hel-"

"You remind me of-"

The talking ceased quickly and we laughed in a thin, anxious way, embarrassed on both sides. Before I could open my mouth a second time, Hunter prompted, "You first."

Nodding slowly, as though unsure of my ability to speak before him, I began again, "I was just going to say if you need any help getting to know anyone, or with your classes, or finding stuff in town...I could help out." It sounded so abolutely lame when it finally left my mouth that I bit my lip as though preventing anything else from spilling out.

But despite my lameness, Hunter Stone seemed not to think that I was lame at all; in fact, he was smiling again. "I'll do that, actually. I don't know a lot of the terminology here...it got me in trouble at the drug store yesterday, actually."

I could only laugh at the chagrined look on his handsome face as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. I chuckled, "Well, I think I can help with that. I live on Mockingbird, so I'm right in the center of town."

At the sound of my street name, Hunter blinked curiously for a moment, adopting a heart-breakingly handsome expression as he murmured incredulously, "I live on Redbird...I think that's one street from you, isn't it?"

The coincidence was just the sort of thing that would happen to me, I determined quickly; I was sort of prone to coincidence in the same way that I was prone to accidents. Ever since childhood, I'd noticed coincidences springing up around me and I'd learned to conceal and/or completely squash my surprise. In this instance, I allowed myself to smile at the luck of it all. A beautiful British boy lived one street over from me; what was there _not _to smile about?

"Yeah, that is," I agreed, grinning still. "Bird streets; best part of town."

"So my mother is convinced," he laughed slightly, grinning back at me.

We stood there like two grinning fools for a rather obscene amount of time until Warren intervened with another well placed throat clear. Hunter and I immediately looked away and I said with a nervous sort of happiness, "Well, you can drop by whenever you want; my parents like visitors. 6232 Mockingbird, okay?"

"Alright," he agreed, smiling in a nervous manner which reflected my voice. "I'm 6159 Redbird."

"Same block," I mused, shrugging. "We really are close."

"Yes," he mumbled.

"Well, bye," I said quickly, hoping to spare myself further embarrassment. He waved as well and we parted ways, me seeking out Speed and Lash while Hunter retook his seat beneath the oak tree. If I'd turned I would've seen Warren shaking his head disparingly, giving Hunter a gruff pat on the shoulder as though to say "better luck next time." Little did Warren know that Hunter had left quite the impression on me, and not the negative one the fire-bringer was imagining. Quite positive, actually, much to both of our surprises.

9191919

Speed and Lash were in high spirits that day at lunch; apparently they'd struck gold with their prank on the freshman girls. Though they refused to give me many details, the phrase "intense wind" was continually used in conjunction with two sets of waggling eyebrows. I could only assume that this intense wind had upset someone's skirt and given a glimpse underneath; the very thought made me snort derisively.

I'd forgotten to bring my lunch that morning and, because of this, was forced to buy from the cafeteria. As I sat there picking at my...macarroni (was it macarroni? I couldn't quite tell...same color anyway) Lash took pity on me and gave me half of his beef hoagie, which I accepted gratefully. Speed, as well, offered a bag of chips from his own lunch, which could easily feed three, and my good mood returned.

"So, what do you want for your birthday, Animal?" Speed asked conversationally, glancing up at me over his food.

I paused slightly; I'd sort of forgotten about the whole birthday thing. "Er, I have no idea; I don't really want anything in particular."

"Don't do that, what do you want?" Lash pressed, looking slightly annoyed but amused by my question-evading tendencies.

I just shrugged and picked a piece of odious lettuce from my hoagie. "I really don't know, Lash; I have everything I want."

Speed and Lash began grouching simultaneously about my indecisiveness and I quickly held up my hands in a peace-making motion, declaring democratically, "Okay, if I see anything I want, I'll slip it in to a converation, how does that sound?"

The boys exchanged glances as though trying to decide if this was an acceptable answer. Finally, Speed agreed reluctantly, "Okay, but only if you actually do that. We know you; you'll try to make us forget about it, like the whole fucking thing. And whether you like it or not, we're having a party. And the more you try to get us to forget about it, the bigger the party gets. Deal?"

I winced at the terms; they were harsh, though the boys had a point. I was never much for big attention and birthday parties always guaranteed a person more than enough attention. Finally, I mumured, "Deal. Don't get crazy, though."

Again, Speed and Lash exchanged a mischievous glance and replied in a smarmy unison, "We won't."

Somehow I seriously doubted that.

Our conversation progressed on in it's typical fashion: Speed asked a philosophical question about Star Wars, Lash answered, I laughed and disputed it all, and then we suddenly found ourselves making jokes about Sesame Street and the recreational drug habits of Michael Jackson. At the end of this, we were laughing hysterically and immitating the King of Pop's dance moves as best we could without actually getting up from the table. Our fun was only interrupted by the arrival of Amanda Reynolds, the most popular girl in school.

After the departure of Royal Pain, Amanda Reynolds had taken over Gwen's leftover popularity and transformed the student council into some sort of drunken orgy. Tall, blonde and beautiful of face, Amanda was a powerful force to be reckoned with; it didn't help that she absolutely hated me. I'm fairly sure this had to do with her close friendship with Athena Gregorios, who likewise despised me for always hanging around her house, as well as Amanda's helpless attraction to Lash, who didn't exactly fend off her advances. Though Athena was much prettier in my opinion, Amanda had the killer instinct that Lash's sister lacked; this alone propelled her forward.

Amanda was well-off, I was quite sure; she wore tailored jeans and nicely made tops every day, a fact which attracted more girls than boys to her side. As she stood before our table, smiling winningly down at Lash and Speed and studiously ignoring me, I got a terrible feeling in my gut. Something was just very wrong.

"Hey boys," she greeted, voice musical and light; I pouted over the fact that my voice was hardly musical _or _light and actually sort of deep. I always thought I sounded kind of like a man, though my mother assured me this was untrue.

"Hey Amanda," Lash replied, flashing her the knee-buckling grin which set so many feminine hearts aflame. Speed just smiled politely and returned his attention to the table; from what I could tell, her was insecure around girls because of his size. It frustrated me because, really, he was more personably likeable than Lash. Lash simply had nice hair and a handsome face; the fact that he was a complete and total ass seemed to escape most girls when he smiled.

"I just wanted to let you two know that I'm having a party this Saturday and I expect both of you to be there," she informed them, still smiling in the pretty way which made her model-esque face seem so unattainable.

Lash, however, was not discouraged. He only shrugged nonchalantly, replying, "Sure, we'll stop by." I almost rolled my eyes but refrained; as though they had anything better to do on Saturday night. I knew he was employing the "seem uninterested" tactic, which he'd explained to me many times, but it still seemed so ridiculous in practice.

Amanda stared down at Lash with smoldering blue eyes, turning her lips up in a way which reminded me vaguely of Keira Knightly. "Don't bring another girl, okay Lash?"

The boy just continued to grin and replied smoothly, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Amanda turned to walk away, her perfectly rounded hips swinging in her well-cut jeans; Lash followed every last move of her backside, which really _did _cause me to roll my eyes this time. Speed glanced up for the first time, taking in Lash's smug expression and my unimpressed one. He finally muttered, "Man, she is fuckin' hot."

I snorted; was that really all he had to say after that entirely disgusting exchange? Lash grinned triumphantly and slapped hands with Speed across the table, declaring, "I am totally in the money, man; she was all over me."

I said nothing an only took a large bit of my hoagie, hoping to keep my mouth occupied so as to discourage it from belaying my true opinion: Amanda Reynolds was nothing but trouble. I'd watched all the after-school specials and studied the teen-party movies; I knew what girls like Amanda really wanted. They would do anything it took to be popular and, as she saw it, a boyfriend would definitely help. Not only a boyfriend, but a _bad _boy; Lash fit the bill this time around. If not for Hunter's intimidating size, he might've been her top priority; but no, she had her sights set on my stretchy friend. And I couldn't say it pleased me.

"Animal, are gonna come with?" Speed asked me, snapping me out of my reflective brooding.

I raised a caustic red eyebrow and replied acidically, "Well, I wasn't invited, was I?"

Lash and Speed seemed to realize this for the first time and exchanged a confused glance; apparently, they hadn't noticed Amanda's wording: "let _you two _know." Instantly regretting my sarcastic remark, I muttered, "I've got stuff to do on Saturday anyway."

But it was too late; my best friends knew everything about me, including my propensity for little white lies. "You're full of shit," Lash informed me quickly. "You're coming; you're with us."

Speed nodded firmly, as though this closed the matter, and I just shrugged; there was no use arguing the point. I would only wait until Saturday night and back-out at the last minute. Though Lash and Speed had taken me to quite a few parties in the past year or so, I couldn't say I was really that fond of them; they consisted of a bunch of drunk teenagers looking for excuses to fondle one another. It just wasn't my scene.

Lunch ended all too soon and the school processed towards the gym to suit up for my least favorite component of Sky High: Save the Citizen. As I've mentioned before, I'd never actually participated in the event. I simply hated sitting there and watching my best friends pummel the rest of the school to death. Even though the games only occurred once a week, I hated every single second of them; I'd already calculated how many Tuesdays would happen during this school year. The number came in at 36 when you counted in all the holidays and, as far as I was concerned, this was 36 too many.

I dressed slowly in the locker room, smiling distractedly as Layla chatted amiably away next to me; despite her general aversion to fighting, she seemed not to mind Save the Citizen. Part of it probably had to do with the fact that Will never participated and Lash and Speed didn't dare challenge her because of her close relationship with the Stronghold heir. I'd always assumed my relationship with Lash and Speed would be my saving grace as well; how wrong I was.

Like any other tuesday, the school piled in to the fighting auditorium and chattering voices bounced off the walls. I'd taken to sitting in the center bleachers on the south side of the stadium and was used to spending this time alone due to the conspicuous absence of Lash and Speed. As reigning champions, they'd already taken their place in the ring and were putting on their fighting gear, laughing about something. I watched them longingly; I wished I was laughing with them and not sitting alone, waiting for them to kick the crap out of my fellow students.

"Is this seat taken?"

I glanced up to find Hunter Stone standing to my left, gesturing the bleachers right beside me. Warren was shadowing him, looking as though he'd just lost some sort of argument; by the triumphant look on Hunter's face, he probably had.

"Sure," I agreed, trying to seem off-handed but secretly glad for the company. Hunter, looking even more massive in his gym clothes, sat down on my left with Warren taking a seat as well.

Hunter followed my distracted gaze down to the ring and he made an understanding sort of sound. "You're not the violent type, I take it?"

I snorted. "Hate violence. But Speed and Lash love it, so what can you do?"

"They're good fighters," he mentioned menially, nodding his dark head as he ran a hand over the stubble on his jaw. "The tall one packs one hell of a punch." A quick sideways glanced showed bruising on Hunter's jaw, barely visible on his dark complexion. It appeared my friends hadn't exactly been at the taller boys mercy.

"Yeah, Lash has a lot of power," I agreed, sighing. "Too bad he throws it around like he does."

Hunter was about to say something when Coach Boomer's voice rang out across the stadium. The chattering simmered and everyone turned to observe the coach, who was sitting in his bird's nest seat with a clipboard in hand. "Welcome back to another year at Sky High!" There was some clapping, but not much of a reaction from the crowd. "As defending champions, Speed and Lash have their pick from the student body for the next challengers in Save the Citizen. As most of you know, the object of the game is to save the citizen," here he gestured to the dummy, which was squeaking 'save me' over the grinding gears, "while the villains try to prevent you from doing so. Speed, Lash, take your pick."

I noticed that, as he'd gotten used to doing, Coach Boomer left out the question of "heroes or villains" altogether; he knew the answer as well as the rest of us. Speed and Lash began looking about, not seeming to really care about their decision; that was, of course, until their eyes landed on me. I gulped; by the darkening of their faces, Hunter was easily recognizable from the gym floor. I hadn't imparted any information concerning my morning discussion to my best friends, who wouldn't have accepted me talking to Hunter Stone in any context, good or bad. And now, as they stared at him and Warren sitting beside me, their quick tempers flared dangerously.

"We pick Stone," Lash announced grimly, staring up at his adversary. I glanced to my left and found Hunter staring back with an equal amount of venom. Apparently, their bad feelings from the day before had yet to be settled.

"And Peace," Speed continued, unconsciously scratching the now dry burns on his arm; borrowed powers or not, he wasn't about to let the incident go.

I stared down at my best friends, shaking my head helplessly; from what I could tell, Hunter was no slouch when it came to fighting and the entire arena knew what Warren was capable of. On the reverse side of that, Lash and Speed were an unstoppable fighting machine; they might just rip my beautiful Brit apart.

"Wait," I said helplessly as Hunter and Warren rose to meet the challenged, exchanging hard-nosed glances before turning to trek down the stairs.

"Be back in a moment," Hunter said to me as a sort of after-thought, offering me a smile before he turned his broad shoulders and followed after Warren. I was left in the center bleachers, trembling with fear and simultaneously anger, as the two boys arrived at the ring door and hurriedly assumed their armor. My mouth went instantly dry as the four boys assembled on the stadium floor, preparing to do battle.

The clock flashed out "3:00" on the billboard and Coach Boomer announced, "Stone, Hot Head; you're the heroes. You have three minutes to save the citizen; go!"

Speed was off like a shot as the buzzer sounded, practically disappearing as he streaked across the floor. Before I could even blink, Warren was flying back across the stadium; he hit the ground several feet away, growling loudly out of sheer frustration. Speed smirked triumphantly and was just turning to help Lash with Hunter when he found himself assaulted by a barrage of flames; it became quickly apparent just whose powers Hunter had borrowed that morning.

Hunter was flinging Warren's fireballs expertly, sending Speed dashing to the side to avoid another assault; though it was difficult to see from my distance, I could just make out the pain on Speed's face as he shook out his arms. The fire had obviously found him anyway.

Lash scowled mightily and stretched out his arms at top speed, swinging them like a whip in Hunter's direction; the blow caught Hunter across the chest and he fell to the ground, coughing from the hit. Though Lash seemed like he was about to come in for a second blow, he realized his mistake too late; when his elongated arms came around a second time, Hunter reached up and caught Lash's wrist in one of his meaty hands, holding still just long enough to absorb the powers he so needed. Before Lash could utter a word of protest, Hunter used his now stretchable legs to propel himself forward and punched Lash right across the face with one of his huge arms at his aid.

Warren had risen by this time and aimed one of his own fireballs at Speed's unprotected back; Speed noticed quickly and zipped out of the way, coming back around to face the firebringer with steel in his stare.

As Speed and Warren had it out, flinging fire and speeding around, Hunter seemed to remember his main objective and turned away from Lash, snaking out one of his rubber-like arms to save the citizen. Before he could reach the dummy, however, Lash threw out his own arms and wrenched Hunter's to the side, engaging him for the second time. Hunter could see that Lash's powers had run their course for him and quickly reached out one of his hands, finding Speed on the off-chance as he sped by. Lash didn't even have time to blink before the hit came.

Perhaps I can say that Hunter didn't really understand Speed's powers or, even really, the spirit of Save the Citizen. Perhaps, also, his superior size had something to do with the entire equation; whatever the reasons, the blow he dealt Lash seemed completely and absolutely uncalled for. Hunter used Speed's powers to propel himself forward faster than the eye could see and, in effect, bodyslammed Lash with every last bit of strength he had. Lash's face was a mixture of horror and surprise as he soared backwards like a bullet, smacking against the clear arena walls. The force of the collision caused the plastic to crack and issued a terrible sound, which was more frightening than the hit itself, almost. I was on my feet before I could even think.

Though I'm not sure why I thought closer proximity to the ring would help my friends, I can't totally account for my state-of-mind during this particular episode of Save the Citizen. While I myself hated fighting, seeing Lash and Speed get manhandeled almost topped my list of hated activities. Though I wasn't a particularly emotional girl, simply seeing them hit at all was plucking wildly at my sensetive heart.

I arrived at the front row of the bleachers where Will and Layla happened to be sitting with their sidekick friends. I almost didn't notice their presence as I'd already pressed my face up against the plexiglass, watching the scene before me in horror. Will and Layla exchanged pitying glances as they watched me observing the destruction of my best friends, though I could tell Will's sympathy in particular only extended so far. Though I hated to admit it, Lash and Speed were getting what they deserved.

I was staring at Lash's unmoving form, which was really just a crumpled body against the ring wall. His dark hair covered his face from view, though I knew his eyes were closed; the hit had no doubt knocked him unconscious, something I'd never seen from either of my friends.

"Get up, Lash!" I screamed loudly, fear and desperation coming out in my voice; I could already feel my cheeks flushing with emotion as I banged on the plexiglass.

Lash appeared not to hear me and continued to lay motionless on the ground. Speed, however, heard my call and seemed to come alive from where he'd been battling Warren. Seeing that Hunter, who looked almost confused by the power of his hit, preparing to make a dash for the citizen, Speed made a split second decision and turned away from Warren. This was, unfortunately, the wrong decision.

Warren, who'd apparently been honing his already fine skills, shot out a few short blasts of flame with traveled at a superior speed to his old fireballs. They caught Speed in the back with a great amount of force and, combined with my friend's quick feet, sent Speed flying forwards towards the stadium wall. Speed hit the plexiglass in much the same fashion as Lash had and, already compromised by Lash's hit, two sections of wall gave way completely; Speed fell to the ground beside Lash, struggling to rise as the burns consumed the skin uncovered by his armor.

Hunter and Warren hadn't even really fought a difficult battle; there was a full minute left on the clock as Hunter hurriedly grabbed the citizen from her not-so-precarious position above the gears. Though the stadium broke out in tumultuous applause, screaming and clapping wildly for the two boys who had finally beat Speed and Lash at their own game, my voice was not with them. Quite the opposite, really; I was crying by this time.

Layla noticed my plight and quickly rose to escort me out of the stadium as her friends watched, victory suddenly tainted by the sight of my tear-stained face. If the regretful look on Will's face were any indication, they didn't dislike me as much as they did Speed and Lash. I must've looked quite pitiful as Layla hurried me out the door, followed by the concerned and curious faces of my teachers; Layla, being intuitive, knew where my feet would've taken me had they possessed the ability to move undirected.

Lash was being carried out on a stretcher as Speed followed with the help of a few students as Principal Powers and Nurse Spex directed them, faces grave. From what I could overhear, the two teachers were discussing the stability of the armored suits in urgent tones, apparently confused as to how two students hadn't gotten so badly injured in a simple training excercise. Crying as brokenly as I was, I didn't have the awareness to inform them that Hunter Stone and Warren Peace had powers quite beyond that of the average Sky High student.

It must be explained that, when I cry, it's not pretty like women in the movies. The tears leak down my face and my cheeks become ghost-white in mere seconds; my eyes redden soon after and then my nose begins to run. When I sob, it isn't pretty and lyrical, but grating and heart-wrenching. I only add the "heart-wrenching" part because Hunter Stone would later tell me that watching me cry was the most painful experience he'd ever endured.

As I neared the stretchers, Hunter Stone was the last thing on my mind. Speed was awake and somewhat on his feet but Lash had yet to come to; his normally sarcastic face was soft and expressionless, his dark eyes closed. Bruises were already starting to form on his face where Hunter had struck him, though Speed's injuries were more aesthetically disturbing; the burns were red, angry and blistering quickly. Some of them looked worse than the ones he'd received the day before and I knew perfectly well why: this round of Save the Citizen was very personal to both sides involved and the hits landed reflected the fact.

"Ms. Macharyas, are you alright?" Principal Powers asked upon seeing me; I could tell that she was looking me over for injuries, as though wondering if I'd been hit by a stray fireball or knocked on the head by falling plexiglass.

I only shook my head, continuing to sob into my hands as I shut my eyes tightly; I could barely even look at my friends as the student helpers escorted them away. I vaguely heard Layla explaining worriedly, "She's worried about Speed and Lash; can she go with them?"

Principal Powers smiled slightly as I opened my eyes a crack; she knew well how close I was to her two least favorite students. "Of course she can; come with me Ms. Macharyas; thank you for your help, Ms. Williams. You can return to the stadium."

Layla nodded, biting her lip fretfully as she whispered a reassuring word in my ear and turned to rejoin her friends in the bleachers. Principal Powers took over where Layla had left off and led me down the winding halls of the school I knew so well, depositing me in the infirmary as she hurried off to make a phone call. Nurse Spex was already hard at work on my two friends.

The infirmary wasn't particularly loathsome as people always describe hospitals; I can't say that I mind hospitals anyway, being what they are. I don't really mind white and the smell has nevered bothered me; seeing Lash and Speed occupying two of the cots, however, affected me in a way that normal hospitals never had.

Speed had shed his shirt and Nurse Spex was observing his burns, which were located in a perfect outline of the armor on his back and some on his front; I practically collapsed into a stool between my friends' beds, dissolving into renewed sobs at the very sight of them. As the Nurse began applying salve to his burns, Speed seemed to notice me for the first time.

"Animal, geez, what happened to you?" he demanded, hissing slightly as the woman touched a particularly sensetive area on his shoulder.

I barely managed to get out, "Y-you're h-h-hurt," before I hiccoughed and was forced to cover my mouth with my hands again, sobbing wretchedly. The tears were beginning to sting my eyes.

"Aw, c'mon, Animal, I'm okay. Lash is...gonna be okay," Speed assured me, sounding not quite as assured by his own words. He looked almost touched by my concern but more upset by it; he reached out one of his red hands and ruffled my hair like he always did, which served to make me feel a little better.

"Well, that's all I can do for you, I'm afraid," Nurse Spex clucked in Speed's direction, shaking her head. "As for him..." she turned to direct her attentions to Speed, who was laying still in the bed on my other side. The nurse used her eerie x-ray vision to assess Lash, who seemed completely unruffled; I imagine being x-rayed didn't feel like much. Finally, she declared, "The worst of it's a broken arm; the rest of it's just bruises and contusions, really. Knock on the head, of course, but he'll survive. Young people always do."

Though the news was good, as compared to what it should've been, I continued to cry; a broken arm. I couldn't imagine how Lash would react to that. He couldn't wear arm protection during Save the Citizen because it interrupted his stretching; now he wouldn't really be able to stretch at all with his right arm, at least for a few weeks. He would be so upset...the thought only proved to make me cry harder. I was at the point in a crying female's lifespan when stopping my tears was completely and totally impossible; it would all be downhill now.

"Man, Animal, this is really bothering you, isn't it?" Speed mused; the salve appeared to be doing his burns some good. He was staring at me incredulously, head tipped slightly to the side.

I made a sound which I hoped was akin to a snort and replied brokenly, "I h-h-hate watching y-you f-fight, but it's w-w-worse watching y-you l-lose!"

"Tell me about it," Speed muttered dejectedly, obviously remembering that he'd just lost Save the Citizen for the first time in almost two years, and to Hunter Stone and Warren Peace no less.

For the first time in my entire schooling life, I missed a class for something other than sickness. Speed made sure to keep very still, lest he upset his burns, whilst both of us watched Nurse Spex setting Lash's arm. She's used a typical plaster cast and, when she asked us what color Lash would prefer, Speed and I were quick to answer "purple" in equally low-key voices. Our usual energy was running on low as we sat in the infirmary, feeling hardly as big and bad as usual.

Lash came to mere seconds after Nurse Spex finished with his cast. He looked confused by the sight of the infirmary but seemed to remember everything rather quickly; he was about to let out a cursing shout and bang the bed with his arm when he noticed the extra weight there. Lash stared at the cast as though it were the end of his young life. He looked towards us for confirmation.

"Broken," Speed and I said simultaneously.

Lash sighed heavily, leaning back against the pillows. "Fuck," he muttered, letting out a few more curses as he recalled the fight in what I'm sure was excruciating detail. He turned to say something to Speed when he caught sight of my streaked face where tears were still rolling down in abundance. Lash's sarcastic expression morphed into an innocently surprised one almost instantly. "Animal, what the hell happened?"

"That's what I said," Speed grunted, shaking his head; one of the burns must've stretched because he winced. I was unable to answer for fear that my sobs would renew themselves and Speed continued on my behalf, "Seeing us lose scared the shit out of her or something. I couldn't get a word out of her for like ten minutes she was cryin' so hard."

Lash looked back at me incredulously. "Seriously? I've never seen you cry before."

"Well you s-scared me!" I shouted, hiccuping pathetically and wiping feverishly at my eyes. Speed had been right on; I was incredibly scared, right down to the balls of my feet. Speed and Lash were all I had most days and I couldn't stand to lose them. Even though the rational part of my brain knew I was hardly going to lose them in some school training excercise, the option seemed to present itself anyway.

Both boys were silent for a moment, staring down, before Lash finally mumbled, "Sorry, Animal. Don't worry about it or anything, we're fine."

"Yeah," Speed agreed. "This doesn't change anything."

My two friends seemed to debate this statement, then, and finally they exchanged dreading glances. "Well, it kinda does," Lash ammended, sinking farther back into the pillows as though wishing they could swallow him whole. "We lost."

"To Stone and Peace," Speed added, shoulders falling sadly.

Though my friends seemed consumed by this thought, I only said quietly, "I don't care about that anyway."

I didn't need to add the understood bit, the part where I was thinking "_I only care about you." _They understood this completely, it seemed; they looked up at me, expressions almost unreadable. Though they didn't smile, because they were hardly in the mood, I could tell that my comment cheered them, if only a little. Speed reached out to ruffle my hair again as Lash distractedly placed a hand on my shoulder. Both of them were obviously off in different worlds, trying to imagine the shaming they would now endure from their fellow students. But as I'd said before, I didn't care. All that mattered was Speed, Lash and me. Even if the whole world fell down around us, I wouldn't care if the three of us were together. Not at all.

**9191919**

**What did you think? Yes? No? Review and tell me. **

**KOLU**


	5. Downfall

**Sorry it's been a while; getting settled into college. I won't keep you waiting.**

**Recap: the boys lost at save the citizen and animal cried like a baby.**

**Read on!**

**9191919**

"I just don't understand how the school could let this happen! I thought they were supposed to take precautions against these sort of injuries! I have half a mind to call up Principal Powers right now and read her the riot act!"

Mrs.McGonagall continued her tirade as she pulled a batch of cookies rather violently out of the oven, slamming them down on the table as she turned to practically throw new dough balls on the next awaiting baking sheet. I heard Speed sigh tiredly to my left as Lash tentatively reached out to take a cookie from the center of the table, glancing up nervously to note Mrs.McGonagall's position; it seemed he was slightly afraid of being caught in her angry crossfire.

Since we'd arrived at the McGonagall house twenty minutes before, Speed's beautiful blonde mother had been storming around the kitchen in her crisp white jeans and knit top, ranting at the top of her lungs about violence in schools. The sight of her beloved son covered in burns had nearly gotten her crying but, fortunately, a little smooth talking on my part had dodged that bullet...for the time being at least. Currently, the three of us were indulging the poor distraught woman by eating nearly every batch of baked goods she produced.

"I can't imagine what your parents are going to say, Lash," Mrs.McGonagall continued sharply, nodding her perfect blonde head down to Lash's right arm, which was beginning to look rather commonplace in its purple cast. The boy seemed to realize he'd been reaching for a cookie with his recently acquired dead weight and scowled, quickly drawing it back beneath the table. I frowned; it was no secret that Lash hated showing weakness, but I feared for him this time in particular. There was no telling what he would do to make up for his broken arm, even if it meant hurting himself further.

"I can only thank our lucky stars that you weren't involved, Mackenzie," Mrs.McGonagall said softly, shaking her head at the very thought. Her blue eyes found me quickly as she murmured, "I can't even imagine what a fight like that could've done to you."

"Animal's a good fighter, ma," Speed protested weakly on my behalf; he looked a little unsure of his answer, though I could hardly blame him. Neither he nor Lash had even seen me fight. It stood to reason, his skepticism did, since I was currently sitting on top of a big fat fight-count of zero.

"I don't doubt it," Mrs.McGonagall placated her son sweetly, giving me an indulgent smile; she knew I'd taken no offense and I just smiled in return. "I just meant that a fight like that could hardly be good for a girl Mackenzie's age. Especially when she's just really come into her womanhood."

At the word "womanhood," my face went blank and Speed simply looked confused; Lash's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. I could only assume that, if the little grin on her face was any indication, Mrs. McGonagall was pointing out the recent arrival of my...breasts. Even thinking the word made me blush violently and, in an effort to hide the expression on my no-doubt horrified face, I stared vehemently down at the table top.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Speed demanded rather rudely.

"Language," his mother cautioned sternly before continuing in her wistful, mysterious tone. "I just mean that Mackenzie is...growing up. It's perfectly natural. A little later than most girls, but everyone's different; I don't doubt you two had an effect on that, by the way. You should really give her more time to be feminine." By this point, the blonde was shaking a spoon threateningly at the two boys, who seemed to be coming upon a realization rather slowly.

I winecd at the words "growing up" and "natural." Mrs. McGonagall was famous for having very little discretion and being incredibly unembarrassed by most subjects. This was most likely due to the fact that she'd spent her early twenties modeling nude for some strange artists up in New York; it was hard to reign yourself in when you were used to parading around naked, I could only assume. My mother had mentioned the fact once, though I'd never really experienced the mortification first hand...I was beginning to understand what public embarrassment by a beautiful woman felt like. My sympathy for males all over the world grew exponentially.

"Animal doesn't want to be feminine...do you?" Lash asked me unsurely, looking rather red around the collar himself.

I bit my lip and tried to configure my words properly; this was a subject the three of us had tried desperately to avoid for the past year and I couldn't say I was pleased to breach it now. Yes, I was a female and my two friends were males, but we'd tried not to look at it that way. I was rather masculine when it came to my thought processes and manners, so we just let it slide most of the time when a girlier notion popped out of my mouth. But now, as we sat there staring reality in the face, I became hyper-aware of my femininity. Did...did I really want to be...feminine?

"I...don't know," I admitted quietly, sounding surprised even to my own ears. I really didn't know. "I don't know what it's really like to be girly or to go get dressed up or anything. I've never really...missed it."

"Because you've never had it, sweetie," Mrs. McGonagall threw in from the ovenside, smiling knowingly. I'd really hoped she would quiet down for a while, but it seemed I was hoping in vain. "Do you have any girls at school you could go shopping with, perhaps?"

"Not really," I mumbled, mentally flipping through my choices. Layla appeared to be the only girl I was that comfortable with and she sort of dressed in whatever the thrift-shop provided. I doubted she was really the sort of girl Mrs. McGonagall was thinking of.

The blonde woman seemed to calculate this for a moment and then declared almost happily, "Well, I think we should go to the mall ourselves then, have a little girl time! Get our nails done, hair, the whole shebang! What do you say?" Judging by the look on her expectant face, Speed's mother was sorely missing her daughter and couldn't wait to doll up someone else's poor misbegotten teenage girl. My mother worked far too much to really bother with my physical appearance, so I could only assume she would be the last one to stand in the way of this potentially life-threatening shopping excursion. It seemed that Mrs.McGonagall was about to get her wish at long last: I couldn't think of an argument.

"Okay," I replied hesitantly, trying to muster up a smile, though I'm sure the expression probably resembled a woman giving birth.

There was a small silence, broken only when Speed and Lash began guffawing with helpless laughter. Speed smacked the table in his hilarity as Lash held his stomach with his good hand, both of them beside themselves. Though all three of the kitchen's occupants had been rather rude to me in the past five minutes, dissing my womanly-ness and all of that, I'd chosen to overlook it; for some strange reason, my two friends' laughter really pushed me over the edge. Indignation began to cloud my head and my fingers began to pull into fists.

"What's so funny?" I demanded frostily, green eyes narrowing; I already knew, but hearing them say it was the most important thing.

Though Speed had yet to calm himself, Lash managed to get out in between laughs, "You going shopping! It's just too hilarious! Ha!" And the laughter renewed.

For some reason, their reaction to the whole idea of me shopping bother me intensely; why shouldn't I go shopping? Why shouldn't I be just like any other girl? I wasn't a man, for crying out loud! Just because I hung around with them and ate cheetos and cursed and played video games didn't magically make me sprout a penis. I was proud of my vagina, damnit! Proud as a peacock!

"I can be girly if I damn well want to!" I shouted, standing so abruptly that I nearly toppled my chair. I pointed an accusatory finger at both boys, who had grown quiet as they watched me curiously. "Who says I don't want to go get my nails done and buy some new clothes, huh? I'm a girl, remember? A girl! Breasts, ovaries, the whole deal! I stare at pictures of Channing Tatum and drool, I sing along to Christina Aguilera in the car, I fantasize about what my wedding might be like! I'm a girl! G-I-R-L!"

At the end of my tirade, both Speed and Lash were staring at me with comical expressions of unadulterated horror on their faces. I could only assume that my unpredictable anger had startled them both once again, though this time was different for a few reasons, my usage of the word "ovaries" being one of them. In my rage, I'd actually gotten over my fear of the word "breasts," which I was now regretting. Judging by the incredibly small size of Speed's pupils, that one had been overkill.

Mrs. McGonagall, however, looked absolutely thrilled by my reaction. "That a girl, Mackenzie!" She declared, clapping her hands encouragingly. She looked sort of like she was trying to beckon a puppy. "Be proud of your femininity!"

I nodded resolutely and plopped back down in my chair, arms crossed viciously. "A girl," I hissed out once more at Speed and Lash, grabbing a cookie and tearing it to shreds with my teeth. As Mrs.McGonagall began making plans aloud in her head, setting our shopping date for Thursday, I felt a new sense of self invading my normally laid-back style; I was a girl and I was effing proud. And neither Speed McGonagall or Lash Gregorios were going to stand in the way of my come uppence. The days events were practically forgotten as I lost myself in scheming; I would make jaws absolutely drop.

9191919

School the next day was about the way I'd imagined it. Speed and Lash seemed to have lost some of their street cred from their terrible loss in Save the Citizen and the other students weren't about to let them forget it. Hands in their pockets and eyes dark, my two friends endured laughter and excited whispers as we made our way down the hall, pretending all the while as though they didn't hear the jubilation practically staining the air: Speed and Lash had been dethroned, if only momentarily.

I didn't quite know how to help them and only offered my presence, making sure that neither was without me for an extended period of time. As I breezed through my classes that morning, I thought of nothing but my two friends and their negativity; it wouldn't be so bad in a week, I reckoned. I could only hope I was right.

My fourth period class had finally come to an end and I was preparing to exit the room when the voice of my Professor stopped me. Professor Medulla, his enormous head casting a shadow over my desk, smiled down at me and simpered, "Would you stay a moment, Ms. Macharyas?" I confusedly nodded my assent and watched as the other students left to go on to lunch.

When the room had finally emptied, my teacher began. "Ms.Macharyas, I'm sure you've become aware that your intellect is much greater than your classmates'." When I said nothing, he took this as a sign to go on. He clasped his hands behind his back and continued imperiously, "In this light, Principal Powers and I have discussed the possibility of moving you forward a year."

All thoughts of Speed and Lash vanished as I processed the professor's suggestion. My mouth hung unattractively open as I tried to create a response. Finally, I found it in myself to reply, "In History of Heroics, sir?" I could only assume that, because I was currently in that particular classroom, our discussion pertained to this class and this class only.

Mr. Medulla cocked a derisive eyebrow, however, and replied silkily, "In all of your classes, Ms. Macharyas." Before I could interrupt, he went on, "Now, as the Academic Chair, I alone can sign you on to move ahead a grade. I would never do this without your express consent." He stared at me expectantly as I fiddled uselessly with the key chains on my messenger bag. Though my teachers apparently found me smart enough to skip a grade, I couldn't even drudge up the intelligence to answer a simple question.

"May I...think about it?" I asked hesitantly. "Ask my parents?"

Though he seemed rather put-out by the delay, the scientist agreed in his nasally voice, "Yes, that's acceptable. Please make your decision quickly, Ms. Macharyas, before the academic year is truly underway. It would be most troublesome to catch you up on even more than you'll already have to learn."   I nodded quickly and stood to my feet, tripping over several chair legs as I scurried out of the room like a frightened animal. The voices in the hallway blended together like bland oatmeal as I walked dumbly towards the lunchroom, trying to sort out the numerous voices in my head. In retrospect, there was nothing to deter me from moving forward; I had no friends in my year and was always rather bored by the academic standards. I knew that my IQ was high and my reasoning skills far beyond my age, but the idea of something so drastic, something like skipping a year of school...could I manage it?

As I rounded the corner, my thoughts dissipated at the sight of a large crowd blocking the hallway. The students were exchanging glances and whispering fervently, looking almost...chagrined? I furrowed my brow and made my way towards the fringe of the group, craning my head to try to catch a word of what was going on in the inner-circle. A familiar strain of laughter met my ears and I sighed wearily; Speed and Lash.

Though at first I was simply another student joining the onlookers, I remedied this quickly. "Let me through," I demanded strongly to the nearest group of students, who happened to be freshmen; a few familiar faces met my eyes and I choked back a smile. The kids I'd tortured on the first day.

The small students parted like the boiling red sea and others followed suite, not daring to mess with a third of the Terrible Trio. Though I knew this was due largely in part to the physical ferocity of my two friends, I liked to think I could muster up enough intimidation to be worthy of the title as well. When I finally arrived at the center of the action, I found myself thoroughly unsurprised; I should've know they'd try something like this.

Speed and Lash had managed to round up a total of four juniors, all of them small-time heroes, and were currently wailing on them in typical Speed and Lash fashion. Speed had whipped up a wind powerful enough to upset their victims' hair and clothes while Lash had taken to plucking things from their grasp with his elongated left arm, both of them laughing cruelly all the while. Exchanging a gleeful glance, the two boys opened up four lockers and proceeded to deposit the juniors inside, slamming the doors shut resolutely.

Speed then turned to the surrounding crowds and announced boldly, "You give us shit, you'll end up like that. Any questions?"

"Hunter Stone and Warren Peace will stop you!" tried one of the bolder freshman, egged on by his friends.

Before Speed and Lash could make lunch meat out of the poor boy, who I must admit had guts, I decided to make my presence known. "If you think Hunter Stone and Warren Peace care a wit about helping any of you, then you're sadly misinformed. Save the Citizen is nothing like real life; Stone and Peace could've just as easily been the villains. You should remember that." I stepped into the circle, staring down my fellow students with a bravery only present when working in conjunction with my two best friends. They moved to flank me, arms crossed as the Terrible Trio laid down the law. Just as I had the first day of school, I felt incredibly proud and commanding.

The other students exchanged nervous glances, apparently seeing the wisdom in my words, and several onlookers began to move along. This set a trend and, soon, the crowd had completely dispersed. Speed and Lashed grinned wildly and slapped hands, obviously pleased with themselves. It looked as though they were back on top once more, and only a day after their fall.

"Nice!" Speed declared appreciatively, turning his attention to me. "Wicked cool, Animal! Top dogs!"

I mustered up a smile and mumbled, "Top Dogs. That was quite the little show you put on there."

Lash just grinned and threw his black hair arrogantly to the side, boasting, "We set it right. See? We didn't even have to wait or anything. They just needed a little reminding about who's on top."

Though I had the strangest urge to remind him of his stifling loss the day before, I kept my mouth shut and turned to continue our trek to the lunchroom. Speed and Lash's moods had improved considerably and the comfortable feeling had returned to our little group. The sound of hushed voices and lockers opening sounded from behind us as we rounded the next corner and I smirked; it seemed as though the victims were already free from their confines.

I couldn't keep my smile for long, however; Professor Medulla's words kept sounding in my ear and it was driving me to distraction. Unfortunately for me, Speed and Lash knew me all too well at this point.

"Somethin' wrong, Animal?" Speed asked conversationally as we entered the lunch room.

I shrugged, scratching my shoulder distractedly. "Not really. I guess it's not wrong, persay. Just...weird."

"Well what _is _it?" Lash pressed with a hint of sarcasm to his always derisive tone.

We took our seat at our usual table and began unpacking our lunches, which all of us had thankfully remembered; it was tuna day in the cafeteria and this never boded well. "It's complicated," I muttered, suddenly glad that I had someone to ask for an opinion on this whole situation. As I withdrew a chicken salad sandwich from my lunch bag, I sighed heavily, "Professor Medulla and Principal Powers think I should skip a grade."

My two friends stopped what they were doing to observe me and I looked up to meet their gazes blankly. They exchanged a glance before Lash tried tentatively, "Like...an entire grade? Go to junior year?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, twisting off the top of my Snapple. "Weird, right? I don't really know what I think about it."

There was a strange silence between the three of us and I suddenly realized what it meant; Speed and Lash were thinking. Judging by the concentrated looks on their faces, they were currently working their way through the pros and cons of me skipping a year. This surprised me somewhat, as I was used to doing the thinking for all three of us, but I couldn't really call it disappointing; maybe their new habit would lighten my load.

Finally, Speed said unsurely, "I guess there's no reason why you shouldn't. You're fuckin' smart and you're always bored as hell, aren't you?" I shrugged affirmatively and he continued, shrugging as well. "Why not, then? You'd be one year closer to graduating and you wouldn't even have to do nothin'."

Lash and I almost started laughing at the sheer absurdity of the moment; had Speed just produced a good idea? I managed to get out, "Yeah, you've got a point."

It was Lash's turn. Being the most calculative one of us, he'd pondered the matter the longest. He looked up at me with those piercing black eyes and said, "You're not really making any progress where you are right now because you've already passed everyone in your class. You make straight A+'s, you're never in trouble and you were the highest IQ score last year...I guess that probably means that you're too smart to be a sophomore."

Though Lash usually preferred to curse and spit like Speed, he could be surprisingly eloquent and business-like when he wanted to. I couldn't help but notice his addition of "you're never in trouble," as though this said something about my maturity level. It was almost self-depricating to himself, if I looked at it like that.

I thought it over for a moment and leaned back in my chair, upsetting several red curls. "You're both right," I said finally, throwing up my hands. "I guess there's no reason why I shouldn't."

They both nodded in return and grinned at me, offering out fists to bump in my victory. I did so absently and then returned to my food, wondering how this move might really affect me; after all, it wasn't as though skiping a grade only pertained to academics. Granted, I wasn't particularly close to any of my sophomore classmates; it was really just the thought of _leaving _them that had me thrown. Before I could sink too deep into any sort of academic thoughts, however, a loud crash echoed through the lunchroom.

The student body immediately turned to face the sound, which had come from Amanda Reynold's table; the blonde queen in question was on her feet, face beautiful and hair perfect as she stared stonily down at none other than Athena Gregorios. The remains of Athena's lunch were in a pile on the ground and, for a moment, I could only assume that Lash's sister had accidentally pushed her tray off; only when Amanda pointed to the lunchroom doors did I finally understand, if only slightly.

"Get out," Amanda said quietly; her voice was audible even at the farthest reached of the room, for every single student had gone completely silent as they watched.

The other girls at the table looked a little stricken, though they said nothing; many of them were staring down at their trays, embarrassed by the attention this little show was garnering them. Penny Harrington, however, only stared expectantly at Athena, as though wondering why she hadn't left yet. It was obvious by this point that Amanda was responsible for the discarded lunch tray on the ground.

Though at first only the back of Athena's head was visible from our angle, she soon rose, dark hair a lovely curtain of shining black as it spilled over her shoulders and down her back. With all the grace of a Gregorios, the young girl turned on her heels and began a slow but steady walk towards the double doors. All eyes followed her walk of disgrace, though she looked for all the world as though she were simply taking a stroll; as she passed our table, I turned my own expectant look towards Lash, who I'd only assumed would do something, anything. Lash's head was down, his eyes anywhere but on Athena.

Athena's face was unreadable at best, though I could only assume that her expressions were something like Lash's. When totally paralyzed by grief, Lash feigned indifference and often adopted an arrogance twenty-times worse than his usual grandstanding; judging by the unsteady set of Athena's rose petal lips, she was attempting this same defense mechanism, though failing slightly. Whatever had just transpired at Amanda's table had hurt her deeply.

As the doors swung shut behind the beautiful girl, Amanda Reynolds seemed to think that all was finished. She retook her seat genially, hefting a spoon and taking an all-too-dainty mouthful of chocolate pudding. All action resumed then; speculations and rumors began to fly table to table, echoing the incredulity surrounding the whole affair, and the usual lunchroom buzz returned. Even as the noise surrounded us, Lash's eyes remained trained on the table. I glanced up at Speed for the first time, nearly smiling as I witnessed his indignant expression; he was obviously angry on Athena's behalf, though I should've expected no less. Speed had been unusually smitten with Athena since the seventh grade.

My lips were barren of smiles, however. I returned my eyes to Lash, frustrated by this point over his lack of action. "Lash," I said urgently, irritation finding its way into my tone. "Earth to Lash? Join us please?"

Lash flicked his gaze up to me, eyes dark and smoldering; finally, he murmured, "Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to go after her?" I asked, gesturing wildly towards the lunchroom door with my hands; how could he not be getting this?

But he only snorted and tossed his hair dismissively to the side, replying, "Like she would even talk to me. You know how well we get along." His last comment burned with sarcasm, though I knew how right he was; their sibling bond seemed to have dissolved somewhere around the beginning of high school. Most of it had to do with Athena's bad crowd of friends and Lash's delinquent behavior, but I couldn't afford time to pass judgements.

"Well," I said almost angrily, smacking my hands against the table as I rose,"if you won't go, I will. Even if she eats my eyeballs, which actually might happen." And with this, I turned and exited the lunchroom quickly, passing by Hunter Stone on my way; he was watching me and I offered him a smile as I went along my way. Explanations could wait.

Now, as I've mentioned before, I've seen my share of after school specials. It seemed only reasonable that Athena might be crying in the bathroom and, lo and behold, she was doing precisely this. It wasn't the big gulping tears of an embarrassed high schooler, but the soundless tears of a Gregorios; I'd seen Athena sob, but at the age of six, I supposed this was excused. Now, as she sat on the tiled window ledge with her feet dangling against the wall, head leaning against the white ceramic window pane, I realized I'd never seen her more distraught. Sobbing had been one thing, but at the current moment she looked positivel dead with depression.

She glanced up as I entered, looking like a wounded animal who knew the end was near. Judging from the expression on her face, which was a mix between hesitation and resignation, I was the last person she expected to see. I spoke anyway.

"Hey," I murmured softly, suddenly awkward; my confidence had disappeared somewhere between the lunchroom and the bathroom door. I mustered up some courage and attempted weakly, "Are you okay?" It seemed like the right thing to ask, despite the fact that she was obviously _not_ okay.

Athena looked levelly at me for a moment, dark eyes the same smoldering black as her brother's, before she replied, "No."

I was surprised; she'd spoken to me. The words we'd exchanged in our lives up until this point had been incredibly limited, most of them before the age of ten, but teenage Athena seemed to positively disdain me. Or she had until this moment; at the current time, she really didn't seem to disdain anything. She seemed too upset to do much but sit and stare, frankly.

Deciding to take this lead, I crossed the distance between us and pushed myself up onto the windowledge beside her, trying to smile easily. It was rather hard when I was still so unsure around her, being so beautiful and unreachable. _Just like Lash, _I remembered, trying to remind myself that the siblings were oddly similar, even with all their differences.

"What happened?" I asked casually.

Athena snorted. "I made the mistake of sharing my opinion with Amanda; she didn't agree."

"Obviously," I muttered, wondering what kind of tyrant that blonde girl thought she was. "It didn't have to do with...Lash, did it?"

I'm not sure to this day what prompted me to say that. The topic was so far out, so unspoken about even between Speed and I, but Lash's attachment to Amanda had been rather understood for at least a year. She was the most beautiful girl, he one of the best looking boys, and they'd exchanged flirtations so many times now that it was almost commonplace. Still, the three of us never spoke about it except when Speed muttered things like "she's fuckin' hot." We'd worked out a system, the trio had, and we didn't want romance getting in the way. Athena, I reminded myself, was not one of the trio. She hadn't been looking at this little tryst between Amanda and Lash with the same eyes we had; I could only imagine what she saw. Did it make her angry? Did she like it? Not mind it? I had no idea.

Athena's tear-filled eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she stared at me, open mouthed. It was the most dramatic expression I'd ever seen her make to date.

"You...did you just read my mind?" she asked confusedly, suddenly pressing a hand to her temple.

I rolled my eyes. "Telekinesis and telepathy aren't really the same thing." It was a common misconception, but still one which bothered me. Telepathy would've been nice, actually; I was normally rather bad at reading people unless their names were Speed or Lash. Athena, for example, was currently stumping me; she appeared upset, but her voice hadn't taken on the harsh, grating sound of an upset girl; perhaps she was relieved? I couldn't be sure, but that glimmer in her eyes looked almost pleased.

Her reigning emotion at the current time, however, was confusion. Finally, she gave a little huff and snorted almost derisively, "I guess I should've known he told you. You three are like 'bff' or whatever." As I puzzled over the term "bff," which I could only assume stood for something like "buffalo fighting federation," Athena continued with a sigh. "But I mean, did she really expect me to be okay with them having sex on my couch?"

I snorted. "Yeah, seriously, I mean why would you be okay with them having se-"

Wait a second.

Hm.

Maybe-

No.

Wait another second...

My head, for the first time since birth, was completely and totally devoid of thought. One could almost hear the wind blowing in one ear and out the other as I stared, open mouthed, at Athena. She was beginning to realize that this particular secret had never passed hands to me and despair permeated her beautiful black eyes. She smacked her forehead with a terrible wince on her face as I continued to attempt normal breathing; the air in my lungs was cryogenically frozen, set to defrost some time in the future. My head began working with a startling array of images, most of which involved Lash and Amanda sweaty and naked on the Greogorios family futon. Questions followed: when had this happened? Did Speed know? Why hadn't he told me? Was I the last to know? Was Athena misinformed?

Athena was watching me tentatively, as though expecting me to vomit; her scant backwards glance towards the toilets was telling. Finally, I swallowed and allowed the air in my lungs to thaw. "Are...are you sure? About them..." I trailed off, unable to say the words aloud.

Realizing that her faux-pas was already too far gone, Athena gave her sculpted shoulders a weak shrug. "I came home and sort of...walked in on them."

My eyes closed tightly as I willed away those pesky images; they were returning with a vengeance. "Oh."

The silence was stifling and awkward and neither of us knew how to break it. I'm sure Athena was more concerned about her secret sharing whie I was preoccupied with the fact that Lash had...had...done Amanda Reynolds. My brain shuddered violently as the thought made its way across my head; my mouth was dry and my throat was beginning to hurt from trying not to scream. Gross. Gross. Ew. Most awful thing I've ever heard. Someone save me.

"When?" I managed to get out.

Athena sighed defeatedly, leaning back heavily against the window. "Monday. But Amanda said they'd done it more than once since last year."

My eyes bugged unconsciously. "Last year? That long?" My voice became rather high pitched near the end of this question and Athena's expression became guilty once more. She looked down and I knew in that second that the relationship I'd built with Speed and Lash, Lash in particular, was not what it seemed. What were Speed and I to Lash? A distraction between sexual encounters with Amanda Reynolds? What was their relationship exactly? Was it just sex? Or something else? And all of their flirting...it was just for show. They'd been together before and, now, they were simply carrying on a public guise; her invitation to the party was just a formality. It became painfully obvious to me why Lash had failed to follow his distraught sister out of the lunchroom. His loyalties lay elsewhere.

Then I recalled the other part of Athena's confession. "Wait, Monday?" I echoed, squinting as I remembered back. The first day of school, the first day I'd met Hunter Stone. The day I'd fought with Speed and Lash...my jaw dropped for the second time. Several pictures from that day began flashing at lightspeed through my mind: Speed's burned arm, our fight, Lash coming to my bedroom to apologize, telling me he'd left Speed's right after me because Speed had started "chewing him out." I realized suddenly how untrue this must be: Speed was hardly the kind to chew Lash out when he could just as effectively employ a disappointed glare. I could see it all in my head now, as clearly as if I'd been a first-hand witness: Lash and Speed sitting in the kitchen in silence, stewing over my recent departure. Lash standing up in silence, allowing the screen door to slam shut behind him as Speed watched him go, cradling the burnt arm he would later wrap so clumsily. The hurt, the anger and a myriad of other emotions collided inside my chest and I winced: how could he. He'd insulted me and then left Speed injured and alone. To have sex with Amanda Reynolds. How could he.

I was barely able to get out, "Athena, I just came in here to make sure you were okay and to tell you that you're so much better than that slut." I managed to inflect my voice with sincerity; though I honestly believed this statement, the only emotions at the forefront of my mind were anger and pain. My sympathy for Athena had been unfortunately buried beneath a pile of other concerns.

Athena managed a tearful smile and nodded, obviously amused by my usage of the word "slut." "Thanks, Mackenzie. I know I haven't been very nice to you...but you're okay. We can hang out sometime...if you want."

As the girl bit her lips, I realized how difficult this must be for her; though I knew I was only her last resort due to the recent disappearance of her so-called friends in the lunchroom, I nodded and mumbled, "Definitely. Hey, I've got to go, but talk to you later?"

"Yeah," she replied, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.

I left Athena to stew over her recent troubles and departed to stew over my own. I felt as though I were walking in slow motion through a fast-moving world; suddenly, nothing was as it should have been. The whole world was cattywonkus just because Lash had fucked the most beautiful girl in school, numerous time, and failed to tell his two best friends. And continually ditched them to have sex with her. Even when they were hurt and needed a friend. And then he'd entered one of their bedrooms and lied to their face. Namely my bedroom and my face. My best friend had commited an enormous betrayal and I couldn't seem to get rid of the knife twisting its way around my gut. The more I thought about it, the worse it got.

I exited the bathroom and immediately came face to face with Speed and Lash, who were waiting patiently against the lockers to the right of the bathroom door. As I exited, they hurriedly pushed away from the wall and approached me, looking expectant. Though Speed looked completely innocent and naive like always, my eyes found Lash's and I suddenly felt as though I were looking at the most deceitful, disgusting creature in the entire world. How dare he even pretend to look concerned for his sister? How dare he pretend to be a legitimate human being with feelings and respectability?

"Is she okay?" Speed asked urgently, not noticing anything out of the ordinary about my facial expression, which I suppose looked completely blank.

I was completely prepared for this question and mumbled, "Yeah, she's dealing." My voice was empty and Speed seemed to chalk it up to my disappointment over Athena's recent public embarrassment.

Lash however, was too smart to believe that. He watched me carefully for a moment, looking confused and concerned; his dark eyes were all too visible behind his equally dark bangs and I turned pointedly away from his gaze, unable to look at him for another moment. The knife was twisting deeper and deeper, causing me an emotional pain unlike any other I'd ever experienced. I couldn't even look my best friend in the eye.

"Animal?" he attempted, brow furrowed. "You okay?"

Speed adopted a confused expression as well, observing the exchange between Lash and I. He turned his beady eyes to me and asked, "Did everything go okay in there? Did she say something bitchy to you? She was just pissed, Animal, she didn't mean it."

"Yeah, you know Athena, she's always a bitch," Lash agreed, reaching out with his good hand to ruffle my hair.

The thought of him touching me made me sick; my hand reached up of its own volition and slapped his violently away. The smacking sound was terrible and Lash recoiled as though bitten, face the very picture of wounded surprise. I almost felt bad, just seeing the hurt in his dark eyes, but I could hardly forget my own hurt; how dare he act as though everything was normal and perfect?

"Don't touch me," I snapped, shivering with anger. "After what you did...you asshole."

Lash looked stunned; there's absolutely no other way to put it. Eyes wide, casted hand cradling his recently slapped one, he stared back at me with his mouth slightly agape and his shoulders drooping pathetically. Speed, as well, was completlely surprised by my violent reaction; I was beginning to realize that I was hardly the only one left in the dark.

"Animal, what the hell?" Speed demanded, aghast.

I couldn't stop myself. I pointed accusatorily at Lash and ground out, "Why don't you ask him? He's the one who left you in the kitchen with a burnt arm to fuck Amanda Reynolds."

 Speed's face must've looked something like mine when Athena let the secret slip; at first, his eyes were colored with disbelief. He turned to Lash, who's surprised expression had taken on a new edge; Speed was asking his best friend since infancy a question with his stare. He was asking for many things, the foremost being denial. The only thing he received was Lash's guilty black gaze, a sight that I will never forget as long as I live. Speed glanced down at the ground, as though trying to process the entire thing. Lash turned to me and, while I expected to see accusatory venom, there was none; he only looked completely and horribly guilty. The knife twisted twice more and lay still, preparing to continue its ravaging as the situation worsened.

"You what, man?" Speed asked quietly, sounding so betrayed it nearly set my crying.

"Dude, I was gonna tell you," Lash tried weakly, sounding as though he hardly believed himself. He turned back to me and reaffirmed softly, "Seriously. I was."

So it was true. The knife began whirling around my insides, tearing apart my organs, and the pain became too intense; the tears finally began to gather in the corners of my eyes. I reached up the back of my hand and wiped it hurriedly across my face, hoping to stifle them if only for a moment. "But you didn't," I spat out, hearing the tears coloring my voice horribly. I couldn't cry gracefully like Athena, as I'd proven the previous day. I hadn't cried since first grade and now, suddenly in the first week of my sophomore year, I was like an emotional crying machine.

"You didn't say anything," Speed said incredulously, looking like a lost puppy in the center of a thriving metropolis. Apparently, the world was passing him quickly on all sides as well.

Lash ran his good hand through his silken black hair and looked left and right, as though praying for a distraction or a safe escape route. When he found none, he began attempting to explain himself. "No, but I was going to. Just later...after the party." A few tears escaped down my cheeks and Lash looked as though he were about ready to commit suicide right there in the hallway; good. I hoped the guilt killed him.

There was no saving himself and Lash seemed to understand this immediately. He reached out as though to comfort me and I quickly backed away, revolted by his touch. Speed seemed to have gotten over his incredulity and demanded hottly, "You told me you were going to go say sorry to Animal so that you could fuck Amanda Reynolds?! Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with you!"

The knife stopped turning; it was apparently as surprised as me. The surprise didn't last long and I simply covered my face with my hands; I should've known the situation could only get worse. Lash had used me as a front for his illicit sexual rendevouz with a girl who absolutely hated me. Lash, my best friend. One of only two friends I'd ever really had. One of the two people who was always on my side, always protecting me, always lecturing me on standing up for myself...he'd done me the greatest injustice of all. How ironic. And how painful.

"Damnit. Animal, I didn't mean-" Lash began, voice strained.

But I was already too far gone to care. Speed growled and positioned himself between Lash and I, roaring, "Don't even talk to her, man! In fact, stay the hell away from us! You're not fucking welcome!" And with this, Speed took me by the shoulders and began walking me quickly down the hallway, meat slab hands thick and reassuring as they steered me. I caught only a glimpse of Lash through my fingers as I dared a glance backwards; he was standing alone in the middle of the empty hallway, fingers woven through his hair and expression stunned. He'd lost his two best friends in a matter of seconds and it hurt him; I could see that. But as Speed continued our silent march, I realized just how many people had been hurt by it all. All three of us were suffering and it felt as though nothing could go right now. As though the three of us would never exist again.

The knife dissolved and sunk into my gut; the damage was done.

9191919

**There you go; love ya'll. 6 is well under way. And don't worry, the drama won't last long. **

**KOLU**


	6. Empathy

**So I have to confess, I haven't looked at this fanfiction since I was like 19. I'm almost 23 now and I started to notice how many people were begging for a continuation, so here it is. I must admit, writing is a nice break from the homework I've been doing. I'm getting inspired all over again!**

***!*!*!*!***

It hurt so badly. For a few hours that day, the only comprehensible emotion in my ragged body was pain; it wasn't the kind where you burn or ache, but simply a throbbing deep in my heart. It was a pain so intense I wondered if it would ever leave; I wondered if things would ever be the same.

I'd never been one to hold grudges and was actually surprised by my sudden ability to hate Lash completely and entirely. My best friend, the handsome bad boy with his arrogant airs and nimble mind; he would never be that ethereal villain in my head, but simply a close friend whom I often shared food with. In only a year, we'd been through so much, and yet...yet he could do this. To me. My selfish head screamed "me, me, me" no matter how much I wanted to look at Speed across the table from me, the line of his mouth foreign and solemn. Whereas he'd only used me as a decoy, Lash had actually betrayed Speed, leaving him in his time of need to cavort; did Speed have more right to be angry than I did? Was he seething mad? By the distant look on Speed's chubby face, I couldn't tell. He simply looked...alone. My heart began to ache; even with _me _there, _me, _his other best friend, Speed couldn't be happy. Lash had been there first and I would always be last. This was perhaps the worst part about it all.

"Speed? What are you thinking?" I asked quietly, vaguely noting the dim light of the sunset through the McGonagall's kitchen window. It was hard to even recognize my surroundings with the weight baring down on my mind.

He blinked and glanced up, as though noticing me for the first time. He pondered my question. "I was just thinkin'...we should talk to 'im."

Though my mind knew he meant Lash, I couldn't quite comprehend the suggestion. "You want to...talk to him?" When my incredulous question received no response, I felt anger start churning up inside of me. "You want to talk to the guy who left you bleeding in your kitchen to have sex with a girl who hates us? The guy who pretended to be your friend all this time and stabbed your back so easily? That guy?"

"Yeah, that guy," Speed said harshly, startling me with his suddenness. "That _guy _has been my friend since we were four years old and one mistake ain't gonna change that. I was mad at first, sure, but c'mon, Animal, it's _Lash." _Speed's eyes were honest and pure, of course, when were they not? Like always, nice, good Speed was already vindicated. It took so little to receive his forgiveness and, sure enough, he was already willing to let it all slide right down the drain into the gutter where it belonged. But I couldn't let it go that easily. I had finally trusted someone, finally given someone my heart like only a friend could, and he'd trampled on it. I was young, I was stupid, I was confused. Lash had been one of the only two friends I'd ever had up to that point and the fact that he'd done something so unthinkable was beyond anything I could understand.

"He _slept _with her, Speed!" I cried, practically sobbing at the fact. I could sit no longer and stood out of sheer frustration, weaving my hands through my tangled red curls and shutting my eyes. Maybe if I couldn't see anything, I wouldn't feel anything.

Speed rolled his eyes and slapped the table with the flat of his palms, groaning loudly. "Oh c'mon, Animal, why does it matter? Who says he's not allowed to do that! He can sleep with whoever he fuckin' wants!"

Even as Speed sat there staring at me, cheeks red and mouth upset, I couldn't quite process the words he'd recently spoken aloud. Something in my mind said: Lash and Speed and Animal are not allowed to do anything without telling the other three or at least getting their ambiguous approval. My approval had not been sought and I most definitely wouldn't give it; if that weren't enough, he hadn't even _told _us in the first place. Perhaps it was my loyalty issues or maybe my insecurities...but something in me would never accept what I considered an enormous betrayal.

"He told us he...he acted like he was...he...he lied to us!" came my distressed scream. Tears stained my cheeks for the second time that day and I inhaled deeply, brushing them away with a cold hand.

Speed was normally worried sick by the sight of my tears but today it was not to be. He set his chubby jaw determinedly and, for a moment, looked like a man and not the boy I knew him to be. He scowled disdainfully and growled, "Mackenzie, you need to grow up. Lash can do whatever he wants and he doesn't have to tell us about it. I'm pissed cause he lied about his reasons for leaving in the first place; if he wants to have sex with Amanda Reynolds, he fuckin' well can and unless you can give him a reason why he shouldn't, I don't see how it's any o' your business."

It was so rare that Speed got mad at me. I couldn't even remember the last time he'd even raised his voice in my direction. Seeing him now, staring me down with hurt, annoyance and frustration in his unusually soft brown eyes...it made me feel sick to my stomach. Lash and I fought regularly, but Speed...he was my constant. I swallowed thickly and stared down at my hands, wondering how I could possibly make him understand; didn't he see what was so wrong with Lash and his escapades? Couldn't he see how nasty it was? How wrong...how...oh no...

My mind began to go blank as my reasons lost their fire; why did my thought process suddenly seem so flawed? A flame of indignation burst up in my gut and I frowned, rounding on Speed and more than willing to take out my anger on the second person to turn their back on me. If he wasn't on my side, he was as good as dead.

"It was always our business before and suddenly, when we're talking about sex, it's not a big deal! He betrayed us and I don't forgive him!" Despite my usage of the word "betrayed," my tone was as childish as I felt. More tears leaked down my face and for one terrible moment, I felt like a crying child not getting her way. When I saw Speed stiffen and look away from me, I suddenly remembered why I was so miserable; I was about to lose not one friend, but two.

"Then you need to do some thinkin'," Speed said quietly in response to my outburst, shaking his head and finally rising from the table. He seemed so small as he left the kitchen, not the mammoth boy I was used to. Now he was small, mature, beaten, bitter; his shoulders sagged and his burns glared at me on his pale white skin as he shuffled sadly out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I listened to his footsteps disappear one by one. I wasn't used to being the one of us three who made mistakes, the one who was wrong; it was always Lash and occasionally Speed, but never me. What was I now? Where did I fit? Neither of my friends were on speaking terms with me whether of my volition or theirs. And now...

My footsteps were odd and foreign, like little pictures at the end of my legs, so detached from me; I exited the house, walked down the street, passed my house, and continued as though the wind at my back was urging me on. I rounded corners and turned onto foreign streets, I glanced at strange yards and scoffed inwardly at lawn ornaments; I stared at children as they played on swing sets and disdained enormous cars as they pulled into equally enormous driveways. Nothing about my sight or perception was real; I simply could not connect. It wasn't until I reached Redbird lane that I realized how unused I was to being alone.

"Bear, no! Heel!"

The low shout caught my attention as though my ears were trained to only perceive that one sound. I became aware of my faculties, my hands, my fingers, and blinked my vision into focus just quickly enough to notice the enormous black dog lumbering its way toward me on pancake sized paws. My eyes widened, I could feel, but my limbs refused to move; I was unafraid of animals and couldn't seem to muster up enough fear to shout or jerk away. As the dog neared, tongue swinging and eyes bright, I began to perceive it as a great dane and felt suddenly warm inside: I loved big dogs.

It halted just in front of me and nudged my middle with its enormous head, panting and whining for attention; I cupped its velvety ears in my hands and laughed slightly, completely unaware of the tears still rolling down my cheeks. Another pair of footsteps bounded up behind the dog, presumably its master, an a deep lilting voice hailed me.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't...Mackenzie?"

When I glanced up to find Hunter Stone's handsome face looked incredulously back at me, I found myself not at all surprised; so he _did _live on Redbird. The dog, Bear, barked pleasantly at the sound of Hunter's voice; this pleasant bark rattled the tree tops and window panes along the walkways.

"Shut up, you big dumbass," Hunter snapped quietly, seeming resigned as he absentmindedly scratched the dogs ears; his hand came close to mine.

Hunter looked suspiciously up at me, drinking in the sight of my tears and my smile as though wondering how the two could possibly coexist on my face. I suddenly seemed to realize that I had was standing, silently and stupidly, in front of the most handsome boy I'd ever met, feet aimless and mind numb. It stood to reason that I should say something.

"Hi," I managed to get out; my voice was still weak and streaked with tears. At the sound of myself, I suddenly regained the ability to be embarassed and glanced sheepishly down at the concrete.

Hunter Stone stared at me in a way that only a truly understanding person could. It was a look of compassion, a look of dissection, and a look of calculation. Finally, he stood to his full height, brushing a piece of wild black hair away from his eyes, and gestured to the monstrous house behind him.

"Why don't you come in for a bit," he said, smiling disarmingly as though I weren't crying and he weren't terribly confused.

As I nodded and followed at his heels like a duckling after its mother, I realized that Hunter wasn't confused at all. I sighed; so he was one of _those _people. One of those 'I understand everything about this situation' people. I'd sort of enjoyed being the only one of those around, but maybe everyone needs company.

Hunter's home was so enormously huge that I deigned to step out of my stupor long enough to stare at it like a gape mouthed fish. It was mahogany and brick in a glorious array of shapes and archways, a three story behemoth of a house that towered over its neighbors and shamed even the nicest of Maxville lodgings. The inside was swathed in red velvet and warm blue-greens, the walls clothed in tapestries depicting ancient battles and the shelves decorated with artifacts from countries and lands that ceased now to exist. It was wonderful and lovely and...extremely British.

Hunter was obviously unmoved by the splendor of his own house and walked effortlessly inside the great double doors, Bear following in a goonish lope behind him. We progressed through a few hallways, ending in what is still the biggest kitchen I've ever witnessed in person. My mother had redone our kitchen when I was in elementary school and I'd thought our new kitchen island was the height of fashion. Imagine how I felt to witness Hunter's kitchen, which housed no fewer than three islands and four ovens.

I silently wondered if Hunter's mother was a superhero disguising herself as a cook; who in God's name really requires four ovens?

"Here, this might help you," Hunter said in his soothing bass, handing me a prettily painted china cup of steaming liquid.

I looked up at him for a moment with glassy eyes fresh with tears and accepted the gift, inhaling the fumes deeply; they soothed my anxiety instantly.

"What is this?" I asked. My voice seemed terribly small in comparison to the grandeur of his house.

Hunter smiled and leaned against one of the rich wooden countertops. "It's tea. Vanilla earl grey, to be exact. It unclouds the mind and alleviates anxiety."

I stared down at the pale brown liquid and inhaled it a second time before taking a cautious sip; it was a warm and brazen tea, though it coated my inside with liquid happiness and lulled me to the point of sleeping.

I sighed audibly and Hunter laughed; even in my addled state, his laugh did incredible things for my psyche.

"It's quite the thing, huh?" he joked, grinning widely. He crossed his enormous arms over his broad chest and adopted a more serious look. "Now what's happened to make you so upset?"

The sound of such a question coming from Hunter Stone should've made me nervous, or suspicious, or on guard. Instead, I knew by the burbling in my throat that I was about to tell him absolutely everything there was to know about me, my friends, my family pet and the grainery on my sidewalk.

And here it came.

"I just found out that Lash has been sleeping with Amanda Reynolds and lying to me and Speed when he creeps off to be with her. He lied about everything and now nothing we have seems real and even though we've been best friends for a long time I just can't bring myself to forgive him! What's worse is that I'm beginning to think that maybe I overreacted and I'm being a huge bitch but I just...can't stop!" I wailed, setting the tea down on the nearest island; the idea of something soothing me was suddenly distasteful.

I crossed my thin arms over my chest as though I were cold and stared balefully at the beautiful marble floors. "I've never had friends like Lash and Speed and now I beginning to wonder if I'll ever have them again. I really screwed this up."

Hunter seemed to deliberate this all for a moment; he hardly looked shocked by my story, though he didn't seem like he would get too shocked about many things. Finally, he cocked his gorgeous head to the side and replied.

"I must admit, I'm having some trouble deciding what exactly _you've _done wrong in this situation. But then again I wasn't there to really see it, so I'm probably no use. What I will say is this: Lash probably has his own reasons for shagging Amanda and I have a feeling they have less to do with him wanting to betray you and more to do with getting his dick wet, if you'll pardon the expression," Hunter drolled, sounding slightly ashamed of his gender.

I thought about this for a moment and must've looked puzzled, for Hunter chuckled slightly. "It's the sex part that's really throwing you, isn't it?"

This was a new idea; I stopped for a moment and actively thought the word "sex" and immediately flinched. Ah. Apparently I was afraid of...it.

"I...well, I'm obviously a virgin," I said lamely, losing my train of thought half way through my sentence. Why the hell did I just tell Hunter Stone that? He certainly had a way of dragging information out of a person. And he didn't even have to say anything! He just sort of sat there looking British and smug and BOOM! My secrets came tumbling out of my mouth.

Hunter didn't make a face when I confessed my virginity. Instead, he smiled. "Well, you're not even 16; I should certainly hope so. I see no reason why should be comfortable with something that shouldn't even be in your sphere of consciousness until you're...18, I suppose."

For some reason, I too accepted the age of 18 as a good one for sex having. I guess it was the finality of the number; it was the last year in high school, the last year as a child, the last year of stupidity. I would go on to college and that, in my mind, was the start of adulthood. Which was the start of...sex. Shudder.

"And for the record," Hunter continued, causing me to snap my head up to observe him. "I see nothing 'obvious' about your being a virgin. You're gorgeous; I'm sure men go after you all the time."

The way his eyes smoldered as he said this literally made me weak in the knees; I thought that was just a turn of phrase used by grandmothers and old movie heroines, but my knee joints literally threatened to give way. My insides were glowing; he had just paid me a huge compliment! Hunter Stone, god amongst men, thought I was _gorgeous!_

I must've blushed heavily, the sort of fire red color that invades my cheeks every time someone so much as looks my way, for Hunter laughed.

"I didn't mean to I you, forgive me. I was just stating the obvious. As to our previous conversation, I suppose the best thing for you to do is wait a few days and then talk to Lash about this indescretion. That will give you enough time to sort through it and him enough time to organize his remorse. He's a compartmentalizer, I think; correct me if I'm wrong," the giant said, eyes light but somehow thoughtful.

I stared at him for a moment, feeling like a third grader at a MENSA meeting. It had taken me almost an entire year to unwravel the tangled web of string that was Lash's mind and here was Hunter Stone, wrapping the whole thing up in one single word: compartmentalize.

"Um…" I stuttered slightly, biting my lip. "I…well, I guess he does do that. He just takes different thoughts and puts them different places. It's school or me and Speed or his family. They don't mix," I finished lamely, realizing I'd just defined "compartmentalize" the way one might describe sex to a middle schooler: slowly and with lots of examples.

But in that weird British way of his, Hunter didn't even acknowledge my stupidity; he rather acted like I was a smart friend over for a spot of tea, or at least a friend of mediocre intelligence who wasn't crying like a lunatic in his kitchen. God, just to think of what I probably owed him now…

But it was then that Hunter smiled lopsidedly, pushing off the counter and gesturing to the back door. "Come on, we'll play with Bear for a while. I know animals put you at ease."

I nodded slightly, silently thankful that we were currently leaving the kitchen in our wake; the air was heavy with intentions and secrets recently told. Playing with Bear was ju-

Wait a minute.

I literally stopped in my tracks and focused harshly on Hunter's retreating back.

"Hold on. How did you know that animals put me at ease?" I demanded, voice adopting a sharp and almost indignant air.

Hunter paused only momentarily, opening the backdoor and taking a step outside. "I already told you I knew about your tiger, don't act so surprised," he replied dismissively after a brief silence. His voice was so casual that my suspicion spiked.

I found myself forced to follow him into the backyard, which was splendid and regailed just like the house's insides; little energy was spent on gasping over it, however, as I was currently busy sniffing out a rat. Something was rotten on Redbird lane.

"Don't give me that," I shot back, having to jog to keep up with Hunter's impressively long steps. "That's something I think to myself literally with those exact words. You read my mind," I accused boldy.

Hunter's shoulders stiffened slightly, but he showed no other signs of treachery. Bear arrived at his side, hopping languidly about as though he didn't notice the tense air between us. His giant master bent at the waist, finally coming closer to my height as he stooped to pick up a ball in the grass; he held it out to me, purposefully meeting my eyes.

Their color was mesmerizing.

"Go on, give it a throw," he encouraged, smiling winningly.

I automatically held out my hand to receive the gift when my body seemed to physically stop me; why would I be so inclined to acquiesce to his every request when I was mad at him? As proven through my recent troubles with Speed and Lash, I was an unforgiving person. What was making me so quick to respond to him? The effect was almost…unnatural…

My green eyes narrowed immediately and I crossed my arms to prove just how angry I really was. "That's it, what are you doing to me?"

Hunter seemed taken aback, though it was somehow not genuine. "What do you mean, Mackenzie?"

I snorted. "Don't try that trick, I'm well aware of it. Using someone's name is supposed to calm them down during an argument. Those things don't work on me, buddy. You're doing something to control my emotions and something else to control my thoughts. What is it?"

The silence between us was heavy and Hunter managed to look gracefully offended for all of five seconds before the façade fell away. In mere moments, his attitude had morphed from care-free cluelessness to world-worn irritation.

"Damn, you're not easy to fool," Hunter practically snarled, allowing the ball to drop to the ground as he swatted irritably at the nearby sunflowers.

I sneered, heart suddenly cold. "And you're easy to uncover. I knew there was something wrong with you. There had to be."

As I turned to storm away, Hunter fell in step beside me to continue our disagreement. "No wonder you reacted that way to Lash, you're constantly lying in wait to catch someone doing you wrong."

"And it looks like the past twenty four hours have vindicated me," I replied hottly, fists clenched as I felt more tears rising to my eyes. Hunter was wrong; I was all too easy to fool.

The giant's eyes were strangely earnest considering his recent change of heart; the way his enormous shoulders swung back and forth as he marched in time beside me was somewhat intimidating and somewhat attractive, though I valliantly fought against both. Who actually wears black t-shirts with jeans anway? Did he think he was James Dean? Hell no! He wasn't James Dean at all!

_Ugh, my protests are getting ridiculous sounding. Maybe I should hear him out…I mean, no! He's doing something…weird to me! That's right, weird! I don't know exactly what it is, but he is definitely not handsome or nice. Or smart. Or surprisingly crafty. Oh, damn it._

"Mackenzie, if you'll just listen to me-" Hunter started to say.

But I cut him off abruptly, actually having the gaul to swat his chest with my pathetic little hand; it sounded like a pebble bouncing off a mountainside.

"No, _you _listen to _me_!" I fired back. My eyes must've been blazing for he took a visible step backwards, brow furrowed. "I already told you how I felt about this whole power borrowing thing. Using borrowed powers on me is almost worse than stealing them from someone-"

Hunter snorted at this and took bold step back towards me, eyes dangerously narrowed. "Now you're the one who needs to listen. I didn't borrow these powers, I just have them."

I balked, mouth flying open as though it meant to catch every bug in the yard. "But you said you didn't have any powers of your own! You said-"

"I know what I said," Hunter roared loudly, stopping me dead in my tracks. His eyes blazed fiercely with an anger than aired on the side of indignation. Something about the snarl of his mouth and the ruffled appearance of his dark hair was oddly sexy despite the dangerous intent rolling off him in waves. I had yet to see the true extent of Hunter's rage, which I surmised was somewhat impressive. Or at least as impressive as Lash's.

This whole situation was making it painfully clear how few people I had to compare Hunter Stone to. I needed to get out more.

"It's called 'empathy.' It's something I keep just for myself," Hunter explained, voice still husky and low with ire. He seemed to be visibly restraining himself from lunging forward, though I still found myself too annoyed to be afraid.

I growled softly, "Then you lied twice. You're turning out to be pretty untrustworthy for a guy who plays the 'innocent Brit card' so realistically."

Hunter actually roared with anger at this and I suddenly realized the situation for what it was; there wasn't anything secretive about his true desires now. He wanted to hurt me. His arms were taut with sinew and his eyes screwed shut with what appeared to be pain; the line of his shoulders rippled as his bones began to shake with an anger so penetrating and deep that I could feel it echoing in the ground.

"Wow," I whispered, irritation suddenly gone. "Um, Hunter? Are you…okay?"

His only response was a grunt that seemed to be halfway between agony and fear. He was hunched over now, grabbing the back of his neck desperately as though he were about to kneel down for a fire drill. I hesitantly reached out to touch him and his eyes shot open, revealing an all-consuming emotion that I could barely even decipher.

He was begging me to run.

But I was already knee deep in stupid. It seemed almost cowardly to back out now; if I was going to keep making these terrible beds, I damn well better lay in all ten thousand of them.

So I adopted a gentle expression that could best be descibed as "my mother trying to coax my father into going to the in-laws house for Christmas."

"Hunter, it's going to be fine," I said soothingly, surprised by the confidence in my own voice. I smiled disarmingly, trying to copy his once present nonchalance, and relaxed my muscles visibly. "We're not fighting anymore. We're just talking. It was all my fault; I overreacted. I'm sorry."

Hunter inhaled deeply in response, eyes pleading with me in a completely different fashion. Now he was begging for help.

I was all too happy to wait on Hunter Stone hand and foot. Handsome people seem to have this effect no matter what sort of blind and monstrous rage they're entering.

"Why don't we go have some of that tea you made me before," I said quietly, still using my purring voice to lead him. A thought suddenly dawned on me and I murmured in realization, "That's probably what you use that tea for in the first place. For when it goes bad."

Hunter was motionless for a moment, as though he were assessing just how much moving his ravaged nervous structure could do. He finally seemed to decide that he was entering a more capable state and he trundled laboriously behind me towards the house. His footsteps were so measured and taut that he was making _me_ anxious. I could almost feel his pain now.

The tea was still somewhat hot and I obligingly poured him a mug, watching him suck it down greedily as though it contained the waters from the fountain of life. He finally closed his eyes and practically collapsed into one of the oversized bar stools near the closest of the three islands. His fit was over.

"I'm so sorry," were his first words.

But I had anticipated them shrewdly and already had a placating hand raised. "Don't be, it's clearly something you can't control. I'm well acquainted with that feeling." Just thinking about my inner-tiger sent my skin crawling.

Hunter sighed deeply, setting down the mug on the counter and snorting as it broke into several small pieces; his enormous hand had crushed the glass like sand. I gasped, moving quickly to remove the shards from his palm only to find his skin unharmed.

"Don't be alarmed, I'm thick-skinned," he said with the slightest trace of amusement and a hint of wonderment.

"You could hurt yourself," I explained quickly, opening the nearest trash compactor and gathering the glass shards tenderly in my hands. "I don't know what just happened to you, but you should probably avoid putting yourself in further peril for now."

I could feel Hunter's eyes on me as I darted around his kitchen, getting a paper towel to wipe up the droplets of tea on the counter. His gaze was burning hot on the back of my neck.

"It's a side effect," he said finally, as though deciding for the first time that I was completely trustworthy. His decision seemed spur of the moment. "To be 'empathic' in my sense is not to be empathetic the way a charity worker might be. It means literally feeling what others are feeling in a consuming way that makes it difficult to tell if they're my feelings or someone else's. Every time I touch someone, I gather up a version of their emotions with their powers."

I had stopped my flurrying to observe the giant as he spoke and I found my mind already buzzing with questions. "But that doesn't seem so bad, the emotions go away the next time you touch another person, right?"

"No," Hunter replied shortly. His gaze grew so dark that I wondered if were entering a similar state of rage. His voice only held bitterness, however, as he spoke next. "I store up the emotions, bottle them up in the greatest capactiy you can possibly imagine, until they disappear as only emotions do: with time. Certain feelings last longer than others. Happiness can remain for hours, guilt for days. Long lasting emotions like love and hatred can stick around for years at a time. I am a storage container for every wayward emotion in every skin cell I've ever perused."

I stared at Hunter in a way that I will never stare at another human being. And here I was thinking the universe had blessed him with an endless source of power that never ceased to rain down on him. In a place like Sky High, he had seemed like a hungry man at a dinner buffet. But now I was beginning to realize that this hungry man had many allergies and, suddenly, every food came with a terrible consequence.

Instead of backing away and heading for the door as my feet were desperately demanding, I took a step towards Hunter Stone. My brain was already making new information from the tidbits provided.

"This week you started off with me, then moved on to Warren, then to Speed…" I trailed off, brow furrowing as I tried to remember the others in succession. "I'm sure you've touched at least three other people just to get by in your classes..."

"At least," Hunter agreed in a voice barely reaching above a whisper.

"And between just Warren and Speed, you must've sucked up enough anger to kill a pro-wrestler," I devised eventually, frowning as the weight of this bore down on my skinny little shoulders. "Do you know when these fits are going to hit you?"

Hunter shrugged, his giant shoulders appearing as a mountain might tottering in a tornado. "The same way everyone else's emotions do; anger shows up when you're fighting, as we've just seen," he finished with a deep sigh. "Mine just show up at the worst. Every emotion is heightened, exacerbated."

In a rare moment of bravery, I looked into Hunter Stone's eyes and found myself willing to do whatever it took the give him something better than rage. Mustering up whatever courage I had, I smothered the remnants of my fear and stared up at him with a deep strength in my gaze.

"Then take something nice," I declared, closing the space between us and grabbing his hand in mine.

My hand felt like a child's in his own. I tried to send emotions through our hands, if science would even permit such a thing, and something in my cockamamy methods must have worked. Hunter intook a sharp breath as the reality of my emotions hit him full on. I wasn't quite sure what I was sending him, but it had to be better than what remained from Warren and Speed.

After a moment, I made as though to pull my hand away, fearing I'd given him too much; but Hunter tightened his grasp.

"No, please don't," he murmured, sounding almost drunk. "It's too lovely."

I expected myself to feel embarrassed, as the whole exchange was somewhat sexual in nature. The embarassment was present, albeit only in the redness on my cheeks; eventually, I found my hand growing used to his and I relaxed slightly. Whatever I was feeling, which I had yet to determine, it was doing wonders for Hunter Stone.

When he finally released my hand, perhaps sensing the slight discomfort growing in my subconscious, he manage to chuckle with a light humor.

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to get greedy. I just…I haven't felt anything so pure all week long. You're almost like a child…" he mused thoughtfully.

My hackles ruffled immediately. "Wow, thanks," I snorted.

But Hunter laughed, waving his hands dismissively. "No, no, I don't mean it like that. I just mean that you're untainted, unspoiled. You're just so…clean. It's like I'm feeling happiness for the first time. Where on earth did you get such a quality as this?" he asked breathily. His eyes were twinkling and alive like stars on the earth's surface; I didn't want to look away.

"I guess…I just try not to complicate things. I try to keep it simple," I explained half heartedly, not wanting to speak. I was growing weary from this entire exchange.

Hunter smiled softly and my breath caught in my throat. "You've succeeded," he informed me proudly.

"Good," I replied, head swimming with the heady scent of his skin. We were so near at this point, so close that proximity had ceased to exist as a limit of space.

"I should go," I murmured, eyes growing heavy as they begged me to close them and lean in for what my lips so desperately wanted. I was thrumming with a wanton desire like I had never felt.

Hunter's face was practically chiseled with desire as he used what little restraint he possessed to pull back. "You should, before I do something to you I will likely regret."

These very words sent my body boiling with a strange inner heat and I actually shivered, stumbling back on my heels and finding my face obstructed by several wayward curls; my hair was coming undone in all the frenzy. Hunter seemed to notice at the same time and he cursed audibly, running a restless hand througb his hair as he began walking almost regretfully towards the front door.

My skin purred contentedly; he wanted me. _Good grief, we didn't even kiss and the lead up was so sexy that I already feel like a whore in church. I've got to tell someone; I wonder if Lash is up…oh well, crap. I've got to fix that mess right now._

My feet led me dutifully to the entrance way and I barely stopped to look at Hunter Stone as I murmured a breathless, "Goodbye, Hunter. See you tomorrow."

His farewell was a whisper on his lips as I hurried out into the front lawn; I could feel his slightly upraised hand reaching for me despite my purposefully turned back. Whatever had just passed between us was something permanent, something binding.

Whatever had just passed between us felt forbidden.

I loved it.

*!*!*!*

**Okay, there you go; I don't think my style has changed that much. I'll get right on the next chapter, which I'm weirdly inspired to write right this minute. **

**Reviews are still the beat to my heart…**

**KOLU**


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